The Life Heroic 2: Between Life And Burning Space
by alterguild
Summary: When Starfire falls ill with a Tameranean disease, it's a race against time for the east and west Titans to save her and her homeworld. RobStar, RaeAqua, BBTerra, CyBee, SpeedyJinx. Reviews appreciated. COMPLETE.
1. Seven Days Makes One Weak

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the second bookin the series of "The Life Heroic" stories. For those of you not familiar with my work, I would recommend reading the first book of this series, entitled "A Night At The Opera."

For those of you who are lazy, please know that the following pairings exist in this story arc: Robin/Starfire, Aqualad/Raven, Beast Boy/Terra, Cyborg/Bumblebee, Speedy/Jinx, Mas y Menos/well...we'll see.

Please feel free to review this or any of my stories, I welcome the comments. As always, I don't own the Teen Titans.

That said, I proudly present to you...

The Life Heroic

Book Two – Between Life And Burning Space

* * *

Chapter One: Seven Days Makes One Weak 

Aqualad gritted his teeth and finished the last of his coffee. Well, technically it wasn't his coffee, it was Robin's…it was the cheap stuff. He hated it, but it was what was there. He had yet to get down to Jump City Coffee and Tea service to buy a bag of Kenyan roast. For the last week he had been too busy taking care of Raven and fighting with the west titans against whatever came up. The current fighting force consisted of Cyborg, Beast Boy, Terra, a very tired Aqualad, and an equally tired Robin.

He looked across the table to Robin, who had fallen asleep face down on the table. Robin had been looking after Starfire just as diligently as Aqualad had been looking after Raven. Apparently, neither Azarathians nor Tameraneans were immune to the scourge of the flu.

Muffled by the wood of the table came the Boy Wonder's voice. "I told her to get the flu shot, I told her a hundred times. I should have used more pull as leader, but she hates needles and she got those big, doleful eyes whenever I brought it up. She played me like a fiddle."

Aqualad rubbed his bloodshot eyes. A few days ago Raven, in her fevered state, had mistaken him for one of her father's minions. It had taken a whole lot of sweet talking to get her to release him from the black energy that she had pinned him to the wall with. He had checked on her this morning, she was still asleep but it appeared that her fever had finally broken. With any luck, his trials were at an end and he would finally be able to get a decent night's sleep.

There was the sound of a cough from the door and Robin bolted straight upright, Aqualad turned quickly and relaxed when he saw Starfire standing there, wrapped in a bright pink blanket. Robin got up and walked over to her. "Starfire, you should be in bed."

She looked miserable, her red hair was dulled by days of bed rest and she was unusually pale, despite her fever. "I know, love Robin, but I woke up and you were not there beside me and I was scared." She shivered beneath her blanket. "And I am not feeling at all better."

Robin had covered the distance to her and had wrapped her up in a hug before lifting her in his arms. She rested her head against his shoulder and coughed hard a few times. He turned to Aqualad to tell him to cancel combat practice for the day but before he could say anything he noticed the look of shock on the Atlantian's face.

"Robin, she's coughing blood."

By that point, the pool of liquid on Robin's shoulder had seeped through his spandex uniform. He looked down and saw a small trickle of red from the corner of her lips. He was in total shock. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to do. He stood there helplessly as Aqualad passed by him and pressed the button on the tower communications system.

"Titans, emergency! Cyborg, report to the infirmary. Beast Boy and Terra to the living room. Raven, stay in bed." He closed the channel and turned to Robin, who still cradled Starfire in his arms. "Go now, take her to the infirmary."

Robin nodded and ran, almost hitting Beast Boy and Terra on his way out. The green changeling turned to Aqualad. "What's up with him?"

Aqualad had seated himself at the computer screen. "Starfire is sick."

"Dude, everyone knows that. She's had the flu all week."

"It's not the flu, Beast Boy. She just started coughing blood."

Neither Beast Boy nor Terra could speak for a few seconds. It was Terra who recovered first. "What can we do?"

A chime from the screen in front of them interrupted their discussion. The logo of the Teen Titans was replaced by that of the Justice League, and then by the visage of a winged girl. Beast Boy looked stunned. "That's Hawkgirl."

The girl smirked at the recognition. "Yes, that would be me. What seems to be the problem?"

Aqualad spoke up. "Aqualad here, I need to get into the Green Lantern Corps medical database. Starfire has been ill for the last week, we thought it was the flu. She just started coughing blood this morning."

Hawkgirl looked at the seated titan. "You think her sickness might be Tameranean?"

"I don't want to take any chances."

She nodded and pressed a few buttons on her side of the connection. "Very wise. Okay, you have full access into the database. If it does turn out to be something you can't handle, we stand ready to assist you. Do you need anything else?"

Aqualad thought for a second. "I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but maybe tell Batman what's happened. If this is bad, Robin's going to need all the support he can get."

She nodded somberly. "Good thinking. Consider it done. Hawkgirl, out."

The connection was terminated and all were quiet. Terra shifted back and forth, her hand in Beast Boy's. "So…what do we do now?"

Aqualad sighed and rubbed his eyes again. "You two start searching the medical database. Try to cross reference her symptoms against any illnesses, first Terran, then Tameranean, then any planet that has trade relations with Tameran, then the rest of the galaxy. I'm going to call over the east titans. We're going to need everyone for this."

Beast Boy and Terra nodded and ran to the library. Aqualad opened another channel. The familiar scene of his home tower's living room came up. In the center of the screen stood the pink haired witch.

"Aqualad, what's up? Miss us already?" She was cheerful at first, but quickly matched his somber expression. "What's wrong?"

"It's Starfire. I don't think she has the flu. I think it's something much worse. I need you guys over here fast. I have a feeling things are going to get worse before they get better."

Jinx nodded. "I'm on it, we'll be there for lunch. Jinx, out."

The connection closed again and Aqualad collapsed against the keyboard in front of him. The adrenaline rush had left him and he was even more tired than before. He felt a pair of cold, smooth hands on his back and sighed. "Raven, I told you to stay in bed."

"Hush. You're worse off than I am." She took his hand and led him to stand up. He looked into her soft violet eyes before kissing her softly. She walked him to the sofa and he collapsed onto the soft pillows. She covered him with a blanket and sat down beside him. "Sleep now, my dear. I will keep watch for a while."

Aqualad was asleep before she finished speaking.


	2. Diagnosis

Hurray for reviews!

Lupine-eyes: Thank you for your kind review. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

Sonic 1: It gets worse before it gets better. You'll see...

And as usual, I do not own the Teen Titans...or Justice League for that matter.

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Chapter Two: Diagnosis

Mas y Menos played Commando Monkey 7 at the lowest possible volume as they sat on the couch across from the sleeping Aqualad. Raven had told them to wake him up at two o'clock. When the appointed hour arrived, they tapped him on the foot. Aqualad grumbled and rolled off the sofa, instantly jostling him awake. He looked up to see the twins. "Hola."

Mas y Menos smiled. "Hola."

Aqualad stood up and took account of his situation. Jinx had fallen asleep on top of Speedy a few feet down the couch. Cyborg was in the kitchen cooking hamburgers and Terra was sitting at the counter talking with him. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and walked over, taking the stool beside Terra. "Report."

Cyborg looked up from the burgers. "She's sleeping now. Robin, too. I had to give him something to calm him down but he should be up in a few hours. I ran all the tests I could think of on her, and we're waiting for the last few results now."

Aqualad nodded and turned to Terra. "Did you get anything from the medical database?"

Terra sighed. "Just going on the symptoms she's presenting, seven day fever and coughing blood on the eighth day, there are at least four hundred different Tameranean illnesses that it could be. Most of them are fungal; apparently Tameran has a lot of fungi. But it doesn't seem like it could be anything terran or from any other planet."

The door opened, and Beast Boy entered wearing a white lab coat over his outfit. "Good news. The toxicology report came back negative. That means it's probably not fungal. That leaves viral or bacterial. I have a culture growing right now, we should have an answer in a few hours."

Beast Boy took the seat on the other side of Terra and set a huge book and a notepad on the countertop. He began leafing through Greyfire's Anatomy and taking notes as necessary. Cyborg flipped the burgers on the stove. "So removing fungus, how many possible illnesses could it be?"

Terra spoke up. "A little over a hundred."

Beast Boy corrected her, not looking up from his studies. "One hundred seven."

No one could think of anything else to say.

* * *

The clock on the wall said it was nearly eight o'clock at night. Robin sat on a cold metal chair next to Starfire, who was resting on the bed beside him. She was asleep and looked peaceful, but the monitors above her told a different story. Her heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature were high even for a Tameranean. He really wasn't sure what scared him the most, the fact that she was this sick, or that he was slowly losing control of his own carefully crafted battle ready exterior because she was this sick.

He took her hand in his and held it for a long while, until Beast Boy's voice over the intercom interrupted him. "Robin, you need to get up here, we've got it figured out."

Robin placed a soft kiss on her hand and then stood up, walking quickly to the living room. The doors opened and he saw all the titans, east and west, assembled before him. Beast Boy, still in his white lab coat, stood beside the computer with Terra. On the screen was a magnified view of the cellular culture. Robin took a seat on the couch. "What is it, Beast Boy?"

Beast Boy cleared his throat. "Based on symptomatic, toxicological, serum, and cell culture data, I'm pretty certain Starfire has come down with bacterial bar and'r'y. The best translation I could come up with is fire fever."

"What's the prognosis?"

Beast Boy changed the screen, and the page describing the illness from the Green Lantern Corps database came up. "Well, it progresses in three stages. In the first stage, it presents like the flu. The second stage produces bleeding coughs in addition to the flu like symptoms. The terminal stage brings about a temperature spike and severe pain across the chest. It progresses with almost clockwork precision, seven days for the first and second phases, and one day for the terminal phase. And it's species specific, we don't have to worry about quarantines or anything else."

Terra continued. "Untreated, it's almost completely fatal. But treated, even in terminal stage, it's one hundred percent curable. The only problem is that the antibiotic is made from a fungus that only grows on Tameran. Locally, it's known as barglox. There is no other source available. In order to cure her, we have to get her to Tameran and we have to get her there fast. She's already a day into the second phase of the illness. In another six days, she'll enter the terminal phase and twenty four hours later…"

Her sudden silence left no doubt as to what would happen. Robin punched his gloved fist into his hand. "How on earth did she get this, anyway?"

"Her zorkaberries, most likely." Beast Boy called up a different screen from the database. "According to this, in order for zorkaberries to germinate properly that bacteria must be in the soil. Apparently the last batch she received wasn't washed properly."

Robin groaned. "Raven, see if you can get a signal through to Tameran. Tell them it is in regards to their princess. Galfore will want to know about this."

Raven nodded, and started the process for a transgalactic call. It wasn't long before the hefty bulk of the grand ruler of Tameran was filling up the screen. A tall man, Galfore literally looked down upon all of them. "Robin, it is good to see you again. I have been very busy but I can always make time for Koriand'r and her wonderful friends. To what do I owe this honor, and where is she?"

Robin shifted nervously. This would be rough for him to hear. "Starfire, Koriand'r, is sick. She has bar and'r'y and she's in second phase. We didn't know that it was so severe. We thought it was just a terran virus. We are preparing to bring her to Tameran for treatment."

The shock was evident on Galfore's face. In his many years, he had seen some unfortunate souls succumb to the infection and he knew exactly how horrible it was. But for dear Koriand'r's friends, who had never seen this disease before, it would be doubly awful. And then there was Robin. Galfore approved of Robin, and Koriand'r had written such a glowing letter not a month ago telling of their first date and how much fun they had.

He was quiet for a long while, and then he got up and adjusted the camera so it was pointing out the window. The sky outside was lit up with what appeared to be fireworks. "Robin, trade discussions with the Gordanians have gone sour. War has broken out and Tameran is under siege. There is a blockade around the planet. They aren't letting any ships in or out, not even medical transports. The Gordanians are formidable opponents with the weapons to match. I am not sure if your ship would be able to run the blockade and survive."

Robin looked at the scene before him. Starfire was right; the Gordanian attack really did look like fireworks. He sighed heavily. "Galfore, we'll think of something here and keep you informed. Robin, out." Galfore nodded, the worry consuming his features as it had with Robin, and the screen blinked off. Robin collapsed onto the nearest free space on the sofa. "What do we do now?"

There was silence for a second before Aqualad spoke up. "Raven, hail the Watchtower."

She did so and again the blue Titans logo was replaced with the Justice League logo. This time, a very large man in a red cape answered. Jinx, who was perched delicately atop Speedy's lap, blinked. "That's Superman."

The man smirked at the recognition. "Yes, that would be me. How are things going down there?"

Beast Boy spoke up. "Not good. Starfire is sick with Tameranean fire fever and we have one week to get her back to Tameran for treatment before she dies."

Robin continued. "Tameran is under Gordanian siege. Their armada is no match for our ship."

Speedy peeked out from behind Jinx. "Wait a minute. Cyborg, last time I was over you were bragging about your new plans for a Titans spacecraft. You were going on and on about how fast it was and how many weapons it carried. What about that?"

Cyborg shook his head. "No good, it's only a blueprint. We've only got a week and it would take far longer than that to build it."

Robin pounded his hand against the coffee table. "We need more time!"

A steely cold and dark voice cut through the tower. "Robin, maybe you just need a way to stop time for her for a while."

All eyes went to the screen. Standing beside Superman was the dark knight himself. Robin thought for a second. "A way to freeze time?"

Batman nodded. "Meet me at Arkham Asylum in two hours." The link between the two towers terminated.

Robin stood still for a second, collecting his thoughts. When he finally spoke, he sounded like the leader they all knew. "Cyborg, work up a timetable for getting that ship built. I want it done as quickly as possible within the limits of safety. Beast Boy, look after Starfire while I'm gone. I should be back by morning." With that, he was out the door.

Bumblebee flitted her wings nervously. "What was all that about? And why is he going to Arkham?"

"To see if he can freeze time." Everyone turned to Raven, who was still seated at the computer. In front of her was the prisoner manifest of Gotham City's premier criminal repository. She had opened the file of one specific prisoner. "Or to find someone who can."


	3. Starfire And Ice

Hurray for reviews!

AlainaLawson - I'm glad you enjoyed "A Night At The Opera" and I hope you enjoy this story as well.

candyclouds - My bad on the spelling, I'm not going to bother changing the old chapters but all the new ones should be right from henceforth. Thanks!

rocknroll - Thank you for your very kind words. I know there are strong feelings in both the BB/Rae and BB/Terra camps. I respect both sides of the arguement, but believe in BB/Terra. You can make a strong case for either pairing. But still,my storyis what it is, the pairings are on the summary. It's up to people to decide what they want to read, and if they want to see another point of view.

GenericX, hyperchic - Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy the show.

* * *

Now, with that taken care of, a word about the story. I know I'm probably going to break from some form of canon with the introduction of the good doctor, but I have to in order to make the story work. So please just take it as it is. Thanks! 

And as usual, I don't own the Titans, or Justice League, or Batman. You get the point...

* * *

Chapter Three: Starfire And Ice 

Time passed slowly in Arkham Asylum for it's many occupants. Most of their days were spent plotting ways to escape. Time was not spent much better for the keepers of the institution. Their days were spent repairing damaged cells after escapes and refurbishing security systems, making sure no escape attempt could be used twice.

In the middle of the eternal melee was one cell, larger than the others by comparison and specially equipped. This was because of the occupant, a very cold man by nature. Dr. Freeze had been a model prisoner at Arkham for a while now. He had something to work for. He was coming to a head with the research to cure his cryogenically frozen wife.

His good behavior, and his valuable insights into the field of cryonics hadn't gone unnoticed. The scientists at Wayne Enterprises had managed some impressive science of their own, managing to increase the temperature that he could survive in to near freezing. As it stood now, he'd be out on good behavior in a few years, able to withstand moderate temperatures, and living happily with his wife. He had been thinking about moving to Alaska after his parole.

It was late when the guard stopped by and pressed the intercom button into his cell. "Doctor, you have a visitor. You'll need to suit up."

The doctor shrugged and put on his cold suit, activating it and wondering who could be visiting him at this hour. When the door opened, he was confronted by the very person who had put him into prison. It was the same person who had been so instrumental in getting him to where he was now.

The doctor nodded, his voice cold and echoing. "Batman, Robin. It is good to see you. To what do I owe the honor?"

The handed him an official looking piece of paper, it bore the seal of the Gotham District Attorney's office on it. "Doctor, we need a favor. In exchange for your expertise in cryonics, we're prepared to take the remaining years off your sentence. You'll be free to leave at the end of the month."

The doctor looked over the paper. It was legitimate, not that he had expected Batman to cheat him. "I certainly owe you for all that you have done for me. Name your favor and I will be glad to help."

Batman gestured towards Robin, who held a framed picture in his hands. He handed it over to the doctor. The picture was of the boy wonder and a radiant redhead. Freeze remembered the look on their faces; it was that of young love. Robin spoke slowly. "Doctor, the girl in the picture is Starfire. She's my friend, one of my teammates in the titans, and my girlfriend. She's very sick and will die in a week. We can cure her if we can get her back home for treatment, but we can't do that in time."

The doctor nodded. "You need more time, and to place her in suspended animation is the answer."

Robin nodded.

The doctor smiled. "I would have done this even without the offer. I will gladly build this, and can in under a week, but I must work quickly."

Batman turned, walking out of the cell. "Wayne Enterprises has offered to provide all the necessary materials. You'll be working there under our supervision. Come on."

* * *

Wayne Enterprises had state of the art laboratories in Jump City. Dr. Freeze was good to his word and worked quickly and, with the help of the scientists there, had a fully functional cryogenic chamber ready within four days. Speedy and Aqualad had stopped by on their way to the coffee shop to check out the progress and bring lunch for Cyborg and Robin. They watched from the corner of the lab as the doctor worked, assisted by the other two titans and various other technicians. 

Aqualad leaned against the wall. "Look, I know they trust him and all, but he's still a villain, right? Is this safe? Robin is putting Starfire's fate into this guy's hands."

Speedy glared at the Atlantian. "Funny, I don't seem to recall you having any objections to Jinx joining the Titans East. In fact, you were playing Land Speed Racer with her on the GameStation before she had even gotten unpacked."

Aqualad lowered his eyes. "Point taken. He deserves his chance just like Jinx deserved hers. But still, being frozen and unfrozen, that's a bit much for me."

Speedy watched the doctor work quietly for a moment. "It's not our decision to make. If it were Jinx, I think I'd be willing to take the same risk."

"I'm just glad I don't have to make the choice." Aqualad paused for a while, and then turned to leave the lab. "Come on, we need to get coffee and get back to the tower."

The two titans turned and left the labs, both caught up in their own thoughts.

* * *

It was the dawn of the sixth day, the seventh and final day of the second phase of Starfire's illness, and most of the titans had all gathered together in the medical lab. Cyborg was running a full physical on Robin, who had spent a full day under cryogenic suspension to test the chamber. He had woken up cold and supremely irritable, but happy that the test was a success. 

Cyborg nodded, but his expression was sour. "Everything checks out, you're as healthy as when you went in. I still think we didn't need to run this test. You're cutting it way too close for comfort."

Robin glared and snapped at him. "Listen, I'm not about to make her go through anything I'm not willing to do myself."

Raven walked in and handed him a cup of coffee. "Calm down and drink this."

Robin nodded his thanks and took a few sips before shivering. "It's cold in there."

All of this activity had drawn the attention of Starfire, who slowly propped herself up in her bed. She coughed softly and turned her glassy green eyes towards Robin, the fear was evident as she looked at him. "Love Robin, how long will I have to sleep in the box of coldness?"

Robin put his drink down and walked over to her. "Not long, Star. Cyborg thinks he can have the spaceship built in two or three weeks and then it's off to Tamaran." He smiled happily and kissed her cheek. "Think of it as a really long nap and you'll wake up feeling as good as new."

Starfire threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, but the sickness had robbed her of the ability to give her standard bone crushing hug. Robin was glad that she could not see the look of pain on his face. She knew nothing of the Gordanian siege, nor would she. He knew she didn't need anything more to worry about.

He slowly broke the hug and pulled back to look her in the eyes again, replacing the pain with a serious look on his face. "Are you ready?"

The redhead nodded, bringing her hand up to her chest. "I am, love Robin." She winced slightly.

Robin glanced nervously at Cyborg, who was watching her medical display. The colored bar indicating her temperature slowly began to inch up. Robin could only see his cybernetic eye grow large as the shock spread across his face. The metallic titan turned quickly. "No time to lose, I'll get the car ready."

Starfire winced again. "My chest hurts, love Robin. It burns."

Robin all but pulled her from the bed, wrapping her in a blanket and carrying her, following behind the metallic man. They took the elevator to the basement and soon the T-car was driving at breakneck speeds across town to the lab.

* * *

Starfire was nestled in the body of the cryogenic chamber. In some primitive part of her mind, she imagined that she was in a coffin, about to be buried alive. Rather than think of that, she found herself trying to concentrate on her friends who now surrounded her and her love who held her hand. They were saying what few things they could think of to say at a time like this. 

"It'll be okay, Star."

"You'll be good as new when you wake up."

"We'll get you out of here real soon."

"At least you won't have to worry about getting sick on the flight." There was a slight pause as the green changeling thought about what he had just said. "Not that you would, since you're an alien and used to flying in space and all."

Beast Boy's humor brought a smile to her pained face and a laugh that had been so rare for the last two weeks. For a moment, everything seemed like it was back to normal. The others backed away slowly and Robin leaned in. He reached up to his face and took his mask off, looking at her for the first time with his bright, blue eyes. Starfire gasped and began to cry.

Robin leaned in and kissed her softly. He met her gaze; his sky blue holding her otherworldly green for a long moment in which everything was understood. Still, he spoke the words. "We will get through this. I know we will." He squeezed her hand tightly and replaced his mask. Finally, hesitantly, he let go of her hand and stepped away.

An unfamiliar face behind a glass mask came forward and looked down at Starfire. Despite all the stories that Robin had told her about fighting Dr. Freeze, his face seemed kind and soft. He smiled sadly and spoke to her. "You may feel a momentary discomfort."

He closed the glass lid overtop of her, the seals automatically engaging as the lid locked into place.

It was silent, and then it was cold, and then it all stopped.


	4. Not An Idle Hand In The Lot

Hurray for reviews! I love reviews, hence why I thank everyone for writing them.

Fan of Romance - It may be fluff, but it's good fluff and necessary to the story development.

Stargirl - Thank you, and I look forward to more reviews from you.

RnRB - Behold, you are no longer hanging.

StarSoSweet - Thank you for your kind words, and I have no plans to "cuss."

Hotshot - Oh, there will be action. Just you wait.

Pickles - Well well, my friend, you're becoming quite a regular. And you'll have to see about Speedy and Jinx.

Samanthe - Thank you, I'm glad you like my story

* * *

That said, let's get down to business. I don't own the titans, much to my dismay.

* * *

Chapter Four: Not An Idle Hand In The Lot 

The next three weeks passed in a blur for the titans. Every free, daylight moment was spent at the Jump City Naval Air Station, where the military had gladly lent hangar space for the fabrication of the newest addition to the titan's fleet, the spaceship, which Cyborg had decided to name Titan One. The titans were not alone in their construction. At varying points in time, other members of the superhero community showed up to lend a helping hand.

Batman was almost constantly on hand, as much to work on the ship as to keep an eye on Robin. Superman had showed up a few times to help with the heavy lifting. But easily the most important visit was from the Green Lantern. He put the mark of a Green Lantern Corps medical transport on the hull of the ship, emblazoning a green cross with a white lantern insignia in the center. That symbol would allow them safe passage through any space within the Corps' jurisdiction, which encompassed their entire flight plan.

Mas y Menos were in their element, dual-handedly assembling both internal and external ship components with their usual lightning fast speeds. Raven had earned a nod from Superman for her ability to lift the heavy titanium structural components. Terra had proven herself to be a natural with the rivet gun, earning the classification of "extremely hot gun toting babe" from Beast Boy as he flew buckets of rivets up to her in varying avian forms.

Not every one of the titans was suited for structural work. Aqualad was entirely out of his element with space being the farthest from water he could ever imagine. He spent his time working on the environmental systems inside the ship, dealing with the necessities of air and, of course, water. Speedy and Jinx worked together on navigation and helm control. For easily the two most cocksure of the titans, they worked quietly together, complementing each other perfectly as the control deck grew around them. Cyborg divided his time between the engines and the weapons. Once he got the ships fusion core activated, he was able to plug himself directly into the ship and work for as long as he wanted without needing to recharge, taking only quick naps as he needed them.

It had been decided in a semi-secretive meeting among the titans that Robin would be responsible for integrating the systems of the cryogenic chamber into the ship. It seemed that the only thing that the Boy Wonder was able to concentrate on was Starfire. No one was really surprised. He had called Galfore himself to inform him of the decision made to save Starfire's life and had made calls every day to update him on their progress.

Nights were a quiet affair at the tower now. Games were still played and laughter and arguments abounded, but there was a certain subdued nature that no one could ignore. Movie night brought the titans together, each resident couple taking up a section of the sofa for some escape from their present situation. But still, something was missing. The tower was missing a certain spark, a certain innocence.

Robin could find no escape from his situation; the missing spark was the love of his life, after all. He had been spending his nights at the lab where she rested, and in his dreams, nightmares really, she was a princess cursed to sleep until he woke her. Through the night, one number flashed through his mind, the amount of time she had left when revived. Starfire would have twenty hours.

* * *

"Titan One, systems check." Aqualad sat in the command chair, keeping his eyes to the star field ahead of him. The view from outside was actually displayed on a very large plasma display screen that wrapped around the whole front of the command deck, offering the titans a complete view of everything in front of them. The commander of the ship listened as the titans around him responded. 

Speedy, in front of him, was first. "Helm responding. We are in geosynchronous orbit. All rocket boosters are clear."

Jinx was off to his right side. "Navigation is up, stellar cartography is online."

Raven sat off to his left. "Defensive systems, online."

Bumblebee was somewhere behind him. "Life support, online."

Beast Boy was also back there at a different terminal. "Weapon systems are active. Fusion torpedo warheads and plasma cannons charged. Gunners ready?"

From the gunnery turrets came two voices. Mas y Menos both responded with the same call. "¡Si!"

Terra continued from beside Beast Boy. "Internal and external sensors have telemetry, all are go. Sensors confirm all booster rockets are away."

Cyborg's voice came through the communications system. He was in the engine room. "Fusion core is at one hundred percent. Engines one through four are active."

Robin's voice came through the system from the cargo hold. "The cryonic system is stable. Starfire is secure."

Aqualad smiled. He leaned back in the command chair. "Speedy, set course for the sun. Jinx, prepare the navigational calculations for a slingshot jump to Tamaran. Cyborg, give us escape velocity."

Suddenly the lighting on the command deck dropped, only to be replaced with ominous red running lights and the sound of a blaring klaxon. Aqualad sat bolt upright in the chair. "Terra, report."

Her voice was easily heard even over the blaring noise. "Internal sensors are detecting a feedback loop in the number three and four engines. Temperatures in the affected engines are increasing. Plasma pressure in the fusion core is also increasing."

Aqualad knew how to handle this. "Cyborg, vent engine plasma and increase coolant flow to the affected engines."

Cyborg's reply was quick. "Venting plasma and increasing coolant flow to engines three and four. Pressure and temperatures are dropping."

Aqualad grinned and looked around. "How was that? Good?"

Raven smiled and rose from her console, patting him on the shoulder and letting her bright white cloak flicker against him as she passed. "Better. We didn't blow up this time. Do you want me to salute you?"

"Maybe later tonight."

Everyone within earshot groaned. The crew of Titan One had been training for as many different disaster scenarios as they could think of within their allotted time before take off. The ship had been built in a record three weeks and deemed spaceworthy after a shakedown flight through the solar system. Crew assignments had been given and the last week had been spent in constant training.

It was a full month since Starfire had been put into cryogenic suspension and no one was taking it harder than Robin. He came up onto the command deck and leaned against one of the bulkheads. "I want to go over the procedure for initiating backups in the event of a main power failure."

Speedy stood up from the helm control. "Robin, we've been through that five times in the last week, plus two additional times this morning. She's going to be fine. Besides, even if her systems aren't switched over to the auxiliaries, her chamber still has a battery backup good for fifteen hours before it wakes her up." He saw the worry growing in his expression. "You won't let her down."

The other titans nodded. They were well prepared for the mission and eager to complete it. The tower had been abnormally quiet without the alien girl bounding about. The true measure of how bad things had become was when Beast Boy had mentioned that he was in the mood for Starfire's pudding of sadness. No one could disagree.

* * *

Night had fallen upon the tower and Robin stepped out onto the roof, looking up at the stars above. He counted over from Polaris and then down until he found Tamaran. He stared at the shining spot for a few minutes before a voice in the darkness startled him. "It's a long way off, isn't it?" 

Robin looked over to see Aqualad, head and shoulders sticking out of the hot tub. He was dressed in his normal outfit and got out of the water, opting to drip dry as he turned off the tub and covered it. Robin waited until he was finished. "I wanted to thank you for taking command of this mission."

The Atlantian nodded. "No problem, it was easy to teach Bumblebee the environmental systems. But I do want to know why you asked me to do this. I would think you would want to have total control over this since you have the most at stake in the mission."

Robin leaned against a transmitter tower, gathering his thoughts. "Yes, I do. But let's face it, I'm in no shape to command this mission. I need to be back in the cargo hold looking after Starfire. I am the person most affected by all of this and I'm not so proud to admit otherwise."

He shrugged. "The mark of a real leader, I suppose. Listen, I told this to Raven once. You have to think like an Atlantian. Bad things happen, but you have to take it as it is and work through it. Horrible, life shattering cataclysms are rarely that."

"When did you become a philosopher?"

Aqualad laughed. "It's an Atlantian thing."

The silence of the night fell back across the roof of the tower. Robin looked back up towards the skies, wondering what the future would bring. Aqualad looked out to the ocean, contemplating his ancestral home.


	5. Hauling The Mail

Hurray for reviews!

Hotshot, Samanthe - Thank you, I'm glad you like it so far.

Ramiro - I didn't forget about Raven's powers, it just wouldn't make for a good story if she used them. But she will get to use them in a few chapters, so just be patient.

Pyrotechnic - Glad you like both of my stories. And I'll let you know when the next one comes out.

Pickles - We'll see means we'll see. And I haven't decided how many there are going to be. I have ideas for definitely two more and maybe another two after that.

* * *

That said, a few notes on the story. This chapter has my personal revenge for everyone pointing out Aqualad eating tuna in my first story. And I will give a cookie to the person who can name the movie that I drew directly off of for the space suits. 

And on with the disclaimer, I don't own the Titans or the Justice League, or anything else that I might have forgotten.

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Chapter Five: Hauling The Mail 

All had gone to bed early the night before the mission, and no resident couple had made any pretense about not spending their last night at home together. No one had said anything, though. It just happened, quietly and without comment, that two by two the titans went to bed. This fact was not lost on Robin, but he was thankful that no one had drawn any attention to it. He eventually turned in, deciding to spend the night in his own bed at the tower.

The next day, dawn rose slowly over Jump City, painting the sky in its normal palette of reds and oranges. Greeting the sun were five figures standing near the panoramic window. The male titans, less Mas y Menos, by some unspoken signal, had all woken up to see the sunrise and left their loved ones to sleep a few hours more. Eventually a soft chiming from the hall alerted them to the hour. Robin drained the last from his coffee cup, a motion repeated by Speedy and Aqualad. His voice was calm. "It is time."

They slipped back into the halls of the tower to wake up the other titans and prepare for their day. They met back in the living room, each with a small bag of personal items that they simply couldn't live without. Aqualad looked around the living room. Raven slowly slipped her hand into his and he looked over to her. He kissed her and stood up slowly, bringing the white cloaked girl up with him. "Robin?"

Robin nodded. "Titans, GO!"

* * *

The titans arrived at the naval air station to much fanfare. News of the plight of the alien titan had swept the news services and a crowd had gathered to see them off. Others were simply there to see Titan One blast off into space. A rank of shore patrol officers escorted them into the building where they would suit up and have the traditional astronaut breakfast. 

Beast Boy knew this, and knew what it would entail. There were certain advantages to watching television all the time, namely the History Channel. Since the start of the manned space program, any American astronaut going into space was treated to a breakfast of steak and eggs. Beast Boy had decided the night before, on his own, that he would not make waves.

A lot of changes had been made in the last few months. Aqualad had started enjoying fish. He didn't eat it often, but he didn't avoid it if it were on the menu. Raven was showing more emotions each day, her cloak had become purest white a few weeks after she started dating Aqualad. Beast Boy had also been making some personal changes since Terra came back. He wasn't been hiding behind his mask of clown prince of the titans anymore. It was time to grow up, and maybe this should be the next step for him.

He smiled to himself as they were led into the base dining room. A table for twelve had been set up, a touching gesture which everyone noticed. It brought a rare smile to Robin's face as he sat down, keeping the empty place setting to his right. The others sat down, resident couples sitting next to each other and Mas y Menos taking the last two remaining seats. Because of the language barrier, they were constantly able to joke together about being the only sane titans left in the lot.

Idle banter passed around the table until breakfast was served, plates of steak and eggs were placed before the titans. All had the same reaction, they were supremely happy at the sight of the meal, then they looked to Beast Boy to gauge his reaction. It was Cyborg who spoke first.

"You see, they don't have tofu in space." There was a half gloating, half goading look on his face. He was ready for the daily breakfast fight today. To Beast Boy's right, he heard Terra start to say something. She had taken to standing up for his food choices recently. He put his hand up to stop her and picked his knife and fork up with the other.

Cyborg still wasn't paying attention as Beast Boy cut into the steak and brought a piece up to inspect it. He finally noticed Bumblebee staring with eyes as large as dinner plates at Beast Boy. He saw what was happening and his jaw dropped.

Beast Boy considered the steak for a second more before looking down the table to Cyborg. "You see, they don't need tofu in space." And he ate the steak. It was delicious. The only noise in the dining room was a carafe of water glowing black and then exploding. Raven blushed.

Cyborg blinked a few times and settled back in his chair, trying to work his mind around the unusual situation before him. Beast Boy leaned back in his chair, smiling at the metallic man. His voice was full of quiet confidence; he had finally won the war. "Boo-ya."

* * *

Sometime during the first week of spacecraft fabrication, a team of tailors had come in and taken extensive measurements of every titan. The result was a set of perfectly fitting, dark blue space suits with black gloves and boots, and helmets with a clear faceplate and gold foil visor. Each suit had a nametag on the chest and a patch bearing the Teen Titans logo on the left shoulder. The requisite American flag patch was on the right shoulder. 

Two titans did not get one. Starfire didn't need one for the dual reason that they could not measure her while she was frozen and as a Tamaranian, she needed no protective gear to venture into space. Cyborg could have gotten one, but declined. Instead, he called upon Fixit to craft him a suit. The effect was striking; a few components to cover and protect his exposed human skin and a mask that complemented the robotic half of his face. He kept his oxygen tank in his leg.

These suits awaited the titans in the well appointed locker rooms at Jump City Naval Air Station. Soon, all eleven were suited up. Robin slipped out to supervise the transfer of Starfire from the ground to the ship. The other ten stepped out into the long hangar and watched the final preparations being made on their ship.

Titan One was designed with the same general lines as the T-sub, only larger and with longer, sleeker lines. The ship was two decks tall and the bow of the ship contained the command deck. The space below was devoted to the forward torpedo launcher and the environmental systems. The aft top deck held the living quarters and the lower deck contained the engine room and the cargo bay, which housed everything necessary to Starfire's continuing survival.

The ship rested on her support scaffolding on her belly. Attached to docking points around the four fusion engines were the eight, two stage solid rocket boosters necessary to get her into space. Once everything was onboard, the ship would be rolled out, righted, and launched.

Terra stood beside Beast Boy with her arm wrapped around his. Her blonde hair was in a tight ponytail and held in place against the back of her suit so as not to impede her helmet. She had a broad smile on her face. "Okay, since no one here is going to say it, I will. Man, that ship looks awesome!"

Cyborg smiled. "Yup, she's my other baby."

Everyone broke out into laughter and Aqualad started walking towards the ship. "Come on, let's see how she flies."

* * *

Normally, air traffic around Jump City was buzzing. Today it was nonexistent. All flights had been grounded as Titan One was hauled out of the hangar and slowly righted, nose pointed towards the sky. Inside, each of the titans was safely strapped into their seats and busy running final ground checks on their instruments. 

Aqualad looked through the viewscreen that wrapped around the front of the command deck and steeled himself. "Bumblebee, raise the control tower."

Bumblebee pressed the requisite buttons. "Control tower reading."

Aqualad nodded, settling himself against the backrest of his chair. They were all held in place against the backs of their chairs by gravity now. The ship's gravity generators wouldn't be brought online until Cyborg restarted the fusion core when they reached orbit. For launch, they were running on auxiliary power. "Control, this is Titan One, requesting permission to launch."

A voice crackled through the command deck. "Permission granted, Titan One. Radar is clear for miles and miles. Godspeed." The link closed with a chime.

"Cyborg, begin the countdown."

With the main engine shut down for launch, Cyborg had a place on the bridge controlling the booster rockets. He pressed a button on his console. "Booster rocket ignition in two minutes."

* * *

On the ground, three figures stood watching the ship as the support scaffolding slowly moved away. The countdown had begun. The one in the black cape smiled. "Well, should we give them a proper send off?" 

The one in the red cape nodded. "Yes, we need to get back up to the Watchtower anyway, we can tail them for that long."

The final one cast a bubble of green energy around him as the man in the black cape walked towards his craft. "I'm ready when you two are."

* * *

Cyborg kept the countdown audible from thirty. At that mark, everyone dropped the faceplates of their helmets and sealed them. Each one of their suits was computer controlled, containing a small LCD display on the right forearm and an internal voice to give any necessary alerts. In his headset, Robin could hear his suit. "Robin, suit voice activated. Suit computer, online." The suit ran it's diagnostic check and continued. "Robin, suit systems are at one hundred percent, suit seal one hundred percent, air supply one hundred percent." 

When the countdown reached ten, the ship began to shudder violently. At around three seconds, they could hear an audible roar beneath them, shaking the ship around them. Cyborg's voice was shaking heavily as it came through the speakers in their helmets. "Five…four…three…two…one…booster rocket ignition…zero. Lift off!"

The shuddering grew palpably as they noticed the metallic frame of the support scaffolding drop away. Speedy watched the helm control in front of him as a certain number started growing. It was the altimeter. They were in the air and the ship was responding. Speedy called out to the others. "We have cleared the tower, initiating heads down roll."

Through the speakers in his helmet, Aqualad could hear the varying grunts and groans from the crew as the gravitational forces increased in the cabin during the roll maneuver. They wouldn't have inertial dampeners, either, until the main engine was online. To his left, Raven's defense systems screen flashed to life. She could only watch it and report. "Aqualad, I'm picking up three incoming objects on an intercept course."

"I thought we had clear airspace. What are they?"

Raven looked closer at the screen. "Unknown, they're just barely registering. Two are small, one is larger. They'll be on us in three…two…one." As her countdown ended, to their left was the trio of incoming bogeys. Beast Boy perked.

"Hey, that's Superman…and the Green Lantern."

Robin finished, smiling happily at the iconic black craft that flew alongside them. "And Batman."

Speedy spoke quickly. "All well and good, but we're going to be staging here in five seconds. Get ready for a little jolt."

Everyone braced in their chairs as the first stage of their booster rockets shut down, momentarily leaving the ship without thrust. They were in free fall, plastered into their seat harnesses with negative g-forces as they were pulled back to earth. The first stage jettisoned away before the second stage fired, throwing the titans back into their seats with the same force they had been thrown away from them.

Raven smirked and mumbled in her trademark monotone. "That was some little jolt."

They continued higher, the altimeter on Speedy's helm going from the tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands of feet. At a certain point he called back to Aqualad. "We are single engine press to MECO."

Aqualad looked confused. "What does that mean?"

Speedy sighed. "Single engine press to main engine cut off. We could loose all the boosters but one right now and still make orbit."

Aqualad grunted under the gravitational pressure. "Good to know."

Cyborg spoke up again. "Booster shut off and separation in ten seconds." He gave a countdown and at zero the shaking stopped, leaving the teen titans in the perfect stillness of space. Eight soft shuddering pulses passed through the ship's hull as the booster engines separated and disturbed their peace.

Aqualad unstrapped himself from his chair and gently pushed off the ground. He floated towards the ceiling. It was like he was underwater and he swam gracefully in the space of the command deck. "Cyborg, bring the main engines online." He pushed off a wall and landed on the deck beside Raven, who wrapped her arms around him to keep him in place.

Cyborg unstrapped himself and pushed off, heading down towards the engine room behind the cargo bay. Within moments, his voice came through the ship's communication grid. "Bringing engines online, routing power to gravity generators, inertial dampeners." As he called out the other systems, the titans could feel the ship start to vibrate softly, the result of the engines. Aqualad felt himself grow heavier and heavier until he felt normal on his feet, indicating that earth normal gravity had been restored.

Aqualad stretched uncomfortably in his blue space suit. "I don't know about you guys, but I need to get out of this thing."

Raven stood up and followed behind him. "I know what you mean."

Bumblebee slumped in her seat. She looked a little green and her wings were drooping slightly. "What a ride."

Mas y Menos ran into the command center, jumping up and down and taking advantage of the English they had been learning to cry out for more. "Again! Again! Again!"


	6. The Darkest Fire Burns Pure

Hurray for reviews!

Samanthe, Hotshot, Pickles - You all are wonderful to me. Thank you all!

* * *

Yeah, do you guys remember what I said at the beginning about Mas y Menos/we'll see? Well, you'll see... 

Nope, I still don't own the titans.

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Chapter Six: The Darkest Fire Burns Pure

Titan One was just passing Mercury on course for a slingshot around the sun. They would use the extra speed gained from that maneuver to cut down the travel time to Tamaran from four days to two. In front of them, the exterior view had been replaced by a computer generated representation of the solar system, a blue T marking their position. Their proximity to the sun made relying on the exterior cameras impossible because of the light and glare.

Jinx stood up from the navigation console and went over to Speedy at the helm. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned in close. "Calculations for the slingshot around the sun and our flight plan to Tamaran were verified by the computer. You'll need to tie the helm into navigation."

Speedy smiled. "Is this how you're going to bring everything to my attention?"

Jinx leaned in and whispered seductively into his ear. "Maybe."

"Well, I hope we have lots of course corrections." He tapped the requisite keys on his console and the controls changed colors from blue to red, indicating the helm had been linked into the navigational computer.

Behind them, Aqualad cleared his throat. "If you two are finished, what is our status?"

Speedy spun around in his chair quickly, catching Jinx at the legs and making her fall into his lap. He looked at the Atlantian with calm, masked eyes. "Flight plan verified and the helm is tied into navigation. We're ready to initiate the jump when you are."

Aqualad shook his head bemusedly and turned to Raven. "Bring the shields online." He turned on the communication grid. "Cyborg, you ready?"

Cyborg responded with his usual cool confidence. "Engines are purring like kittens."

Aqualad nodded. Jinx had returned to her station and Speedy had turned back around. He spoke into the communication grid again, this time being broadcast through the whole ship. "This is your captain speaking, we will be beginning the slingshot and jump to Tamaran momentarily."

Beast Boy looked up from his weapons console. "Time." He looked at the ship's clock. "Two hours, twenty five minutes."

Terra laughed, jumping around the deck. "Yes! I win! I had two and a half hours. That's as close as you can get!"

Aqualad turned to face her. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Beast Boy took a small wad of bills from his pocket and handed it to Terra. "It was a pool on how long it would be before you said 'this is your captain speaking'. Terra won."

Aqualad sunk down in his chair. To his left, he heard the soothing monotone of Raven. "Don't worry too much, I had you in at four hours."

He slapped his forehead. "Speedy, hit it."

In the darkness of space, the four engines of Titan One glowed bright blue as they came to life. Without so much as a whisper in the vacuum of space, the craft accelerated quickly towards the sun.

* * *

In space, time is relative depending on where you are from, so for the titans, going off Jump City time, it was nearly midnight. Mas y Menos were finishing their two hour night watch rotation, and would be relieved by Beast Boy and Terra in a few minutes. Mas sat on the seat of the command chair and Menos sat above him on the headrest. They ran a final systems diagnostic to end their shift and were happy to see a board full of green lights as Beast Boy and Terra walked onto the command deck. 

Beast Boy nodded to the twins. "Okay, guys. Get some sleep. Tomorrow we arrive at Tamaran."

Mas nodded. "Si." Menos continued the thought. "Gracias, Beast Boy y Terra."

Terra smiled at them as they walked past, and moved forward to take the command chair. Beast Boy caught this out of the corner of his eye and made a similar rush, moving with catlike speed to take the chair first. This didn't stop Terra, and she delicately perched herself in his lap.

Beast Boy smiled and tapped a few buttons on the chair's console, the screens around them flickered as the language option changed from Spanish to English. He nodded approvingly. "Much better."

Terra shifted in his lap, getting comfortable. "Well, captain, what now?" Her voice was playful and she leaned against him suggestively.

Beast Boy grinned, wrapping his arms around her. "Down, girl. I don't think Aqualad would approve of anything like that in his chair. Besides, the shift is only two hours." He leaned back, studying the console closely. "We'd need at least twice that long."

Terra looked at him wide eyed, trying to judge if he was serious or not. He turned his eyes to her and she could see just how serious he was. She blushed a bright red and squirmed a little in his lap.

Their playful banter was interrupted by a blaring klaxon. Both jumped at the loud noise and looked to the viewscreen as Beast Boy called up the cause of the alert. Sensors were picking up a single, high speed projectile on collision course with the ship. Beast Boy opened the communications grid and addressed the entire ship. "General quarters. Repeat, general quarters. All hands to battle stations."

Terra went to her post at the sensors to try to gather more information. Beast Boy remained in the command chair awaiting the others. Within minutes the sound of heavy footsteps was heard down the hallway and the other titans began to file onto the command deck, taking their places at their stations. Beast Boy got up and moved to weapons and Aqualad took command again. "Terra, report."

Her hands were flying over her console. "We're still too far away to register anything accurately, but it appears to be a single projectile. It's small, maybe a torpedo or an escape pod from another ship."

Raven shook her head. "An escape pod wouldn't be moving that quickly."

Aqualad nodded. "Assume it's hostile. Raven, shields up. Beast Boy, bring weapons online but hold off on targeting it for now. How long until we have a more accurate idea of what it is, Terra?"

"Just a minute." There was a long pause across the command deck. "It's increased speed. Sensors indicate that it is Tamaranian."

Speedy looked back to her. "Tamaranian? Why are they firing on us, they know we're coming and that we've got Starfire on board."

"No, it's not a Tamaranian weapon. It's a Tamaranian. Time to target is four minutes."

* * *

Robin and Bumblebee waited at the airlock door for the Tamaranian to arrive. Robin was leaning against a bulkhead, thinking things over. "I don't get it. Galfore knows we're coming. Why would he be sending someone to intercept us?" 

Bumblebee shrugged. "Maybe he managed to get someone through the blockade with the antibiotic. That way we wouldn't have to risk getting Starfire through the blockade ourselves."

"But he knows Starfire is in cryogenic suspension. She's not getting any better or any worse. It would be a lot easier for us to try to run the blockade in a ship with weapons than for a single Tamaranian to."

Aqualad's voice came from a nearby communication link. "Robin, we just saw something purple flash by the side of the ship up here. I think it's our visitor." He had barely finished speaking before Robin saw the airlock indicate that the external door had closed and the airlock was cycling.

Robin's eyes grew wide. "Wait a minute. Purple?"

The interior door opened, casting light on the person inside. It was obvious from the short black skirt and midriff top that she was female. She stepped forward, the light playing across her jet black hair. The girl had purple eyes, but they were distant and sad. Bumblebee stood confused as she saw Robin step back and withdraw a freeze disk from his belt. His voice was as cold as ice. "Blackfire."

Bumblebee heard heavy footsteps and turned to see Cyborg, who had his arm cannon leveled at the girl. She stepped back to him and whispered. "Who is she?"

Cyborg glared. "Blackfire is Star's sister. She tried to frame her for some intergalactic robberies a while ago and then tried to force her to marry some slime mold by taking the Tamaranian crown. We don't much like her."

Blackfire finally spoke up. Her voice was strangely quiet and lacked her usual confidence, and held no trace of anger whatsoever. "Am I too late?"

Robin relaxed a little. "Too late for what?"

"Starfire. Is she…?" She looked like she was about to cry.

Robin straightened. He looked over at Cyborg and Bee and made a slight motion with his hand. They caught it and nodded. He looked Blackfire square in the eye. "Yes, you're too late. Starfire is dead."

The alien princess fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face as her sobs filled the hallway. She leaned back against the wall and put her head on her knees, tucking herself into a tight ball as she cried. Through the sobs, she could barely choke out her story. "I heard she was sick with bar and'r'y. I knew she didn't have much time so I wanted to bring the barglox but I had to get off the planet right after I broke out of prison or be recaptured. I figured I could get her and bring her back in time. I made it through the blockade and then found that your ship already heading here."

Robin shook his head. His voice was sharp as he addressed her. "You've never done a nice thing for Star for as long as we've known you. First you frame her, then you try to use her as some pawn in a ploy for political power. Why should we believe you now?"

Blackfire looked up, her purple eyes red and puffy. "Because she is my sister and I love her."

Robin huffed. "If that's love, I don't want to see hate. Cyborg, take her into custody. We'll return her with Starfire."

She looked up at him nervously, her eyes pleading. "Can I see her? Please, you have to let me see her."

Cyborg came forward and put her into restraints, guards that fit over her hands to prevent the use of starbolts and cuffed her hands in front of her. Robin nodded once she was secured. "Fine, follow me."

It was deathly cold in the cargo hold, an effect of the cryogenic chamber up against the far wall. The lighting was dimmed and a fog of water vapor hovered over the floor. Robin pointed to the chamber. "There."

Blackfire lowered herself to the ground and walked through the fog towards the chamber. She hesitated for a second, then took the final step forward and looked through the glass lid to her sister below. Starfire lay peacefully inside, caught in her last moment. Her hands were clasped at her chest and her eyes were closed with a single frozen tear sliding down her cheek.

She regarded her sister for a minute, and then leaned down, placing her head close to the glass. She spoke quietly. "I'm sorry, sister. I'm sorry I wasn't nicer to you and that I did so much to you. I have failed you. Maybe one day you can tell me that you forgive me." Tears fell from her eyes and froze almost immediately on the glass lid. She sank to her knees in the cold fog and leaned against the chamber. Her voice was a whisper when she spoke again. "I want to stay with her."

Robin walked over and kneeled beside her, he looked her in the eyes for a second and the moved to undo her restraints. At her questioning glance, he looked down at the fog beneath them. "Blackfire, I haven't exactly been honest with you."

* * *

Blackfire sat at the table in the crew quarters, surrounded by the other titans. The east titans had introduced themselves to her and now they were discussing her sister. She sighed. "Twenty one hours? That's not bad. Bar and'r'y has been cured with only minutes left, provided the time of infection is accurate." 

Robin nodded. "You understand that I had to make sure you weren't going to get revenge on her while she was incapacitated, don't you?"

"Yes. I forgive you and don't blame you at all. I can see what she finds so attractive in you. I'll help get her to Tamaran safely in any way that I can."

They were interrupted by Mas y Menos entering the crew quarters from the galley. Mas carried a tray with a coffee mug on it. Menos carried the creamer and sugar set. They set their gifts down before Blackfire and smiled. They spoke with one voice. "¿Café? Es muy bueno…"

Blackfire, who didn't understand a word they said, looked down at the two and smiled brightly. "Well aren't you two just the most handsome thing in the world!" She gave them both a hug and giggled brightly when they both fainted.

Raven arched an eyebrow and placed her finger delicately into her glass of water. She took the resulting drop of water and placed it on Aqualad's skin, the water was just enough for them to communicate. "So do all Tamaranian girls fall for shorter guys?"

Aqualad snorted in laughter, trying to hide it as a cough. Raven dried her hand and looked over at the alien girl from beside Aqualad. "So why the sudden change? I didn't think you liked her or were too bent on revenge to even try to."

Blackfire stared into her coffee for answers. "When I heard she was sick, I don't know what happened, I just lost it. I remembered how things were when we were young and I just couldn't imagine waking up and one day her not being there. Even when I was plotting against her, I never wanted her dead. And maybe she finally rubbed off on me. Do you know she sent me a letter every day I was in prison?"

Raven nodded. "Yes, that's definitely Starfire."


	7. Life On A Timeline

Hurray for reviews!

Hotshot, samanthe - Thank you both for your continued support. It means a lot to me.

StarSoSweet - Life threatening illnesses change the way people feel all the time, why would Blackfire be any different? As for the bizarreness, well, everyone grows and changes. A white cloaked Raven, meat eating Beast Boy, and fish eating Aqualad are just one way in which they could grow.

Pyro - Nah, I'm not the best. I've seen some other pretty good stuff on here.

Lupine - I'm glad you like it. I've started on a third story but it's a little difficult writing, so it might be a bit delayed (sorry, everyone!). Anyway, hope you like Ch7.

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Important Definitions: port is left, starboard is right, dorsal is top, ventral is bottom. Remember these, there will be a quiz on them next chapter. That said, I don't own the titans.

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Chapter Seven: Life On A Timeline 

The viewscreen on the bridge was again replaced with a computer generated model, this time of the Tamaranian solar system. Titan One was approaching Tamaran from the inside, using the Tamaranian sun to hide behind until the very last minute. They would also be able to utilize the sun for a small gravity slingshot to increase their speed and make them a harder target.

So was the plan before the klaxon went off on the bridge. Aqualad startled and looked back towards Terra. She was staring at her screen with wide eyes. She called her display to the main screen. It indicated the mass of the Tamaranian sun discharging a wide sweeping band of radiation. She could only whisper what it meant. "It's a solar flare."

Aqualad tapped a button on his chair. "General quarters. Raven, shields up."

Raven's hands flew over her console. "They're up, but they were built for weapons and mild radiation. They won't help us much against something that big."

Aqualad opened a communication link to the engine room. "Cyborg, give us everything you have, we need to outrun this flare." He then looked up. "Speedy, get us back the way we came."

Speedy turned the ship in a quick arc, and then gunned the engines, making a cut to starboard in an attempt to outflank the flare on the side. For a moment as the ship accelerated, everyone relaxed. But they were quickly jarred by an impact as the flare hit, striking the ship. Aqualad looked around, almost every console had shot flares and some ventilation tubing had broken from the ceiling. "Damage report!"

Terra replied immediately. "Reading damage in the engine bay. We were struck near the starboard engine."

Cyborg beat Aqualad to the communication grid. "Three of the four engines are still reading one hundred percent. The starboard engine took the brunt of the hit and is no joy. I can fix it though, but it'll take some time. Twelve hours, minimum."

Aqualad leaned back in his chair and exhaled. He was almost relaxed when Robin's frantic voice came through the speakers. "Cryonic systems are failing. Cyborg, Blackfire, get down here and help me!"

Cyborg left the engine bay immediately. He was closest to Robin but Blackfire could fly. Still, Cyborg made it there just a few seconds before Blackfire and was already helping Robin as he desperately tried to stabilize the controls. Blackfire looked at a nearby screen and saw what was happening. The flare had damaged the temperature feedback coil of the chamber. It was reading the temperature as being too low and was trying to raise it by venting the cryogenic gasses.

Cyborg crawled underneath the chamber, trying to manually tie off the vent lines. He pounded on the rime that had crusted around the valves with a wrench. The ice broke away in chunks until he was finally able to get the wrench around the valve and start twisting. Above him, he heard a klaxon sound.

Robin cursed. "The gas pressure is too low, the system is going to revive her." He screamed and kicked the side of the chamber. "We're too late."

Cyborg slid out from under the chamber. "Don't worry, we've still got twenty one hours." He turned to Blackfire. "You might want to get out of here so you don't catch what she has."

Blackfire shook her head and walked over to the chamber as the lid lifted. "We're sisters and I'm going to stay with her no matter what."

A low moan came from the inside of the chamber and Starfire pulled herself up. She still grasped her chest painfully and leaned forward. "Love Robin, friend Cyborg, and…sister?"

Blackfire wrapped her arms around Starfire, ignoring the struggles and shouts that she would become ill. "Yes, sister, it's me. I'm here for you." Slowly, Starfire stopped struggling and hugged Blackfire. They both sat there for a while, crying.

Starfire pulled away a little. "Komand'r, you have broken out of prison just to come to help me? That is most foolish, sister." She looked down. "But it means very much."

Robin arched a masked eyebrow. "Wait a minute. Komand'r?"

Blackfire tousled her sister's hair. "Yes, that is my name. Just like Koriand'r is translated as Starfire in your language, Komand'r is translated as Blackfire."

She took her sister's hands into hers and leaned down to her level to look her square in the eye. "You're the only sister I've got. I just didn't want anything to happen to you and have you think that I don't love and care for you. Starfire, I'm so sorry."

Starfire hugged her sister again, allowing Blackfire to lift her from the chamber. "Oh, sister, I have already forgiven you."

* * *

Cyborg hadn't been kidding on his time estimate. It had been twelve hours and he was still hung up on the engines. Robin was starting to slowly come undone but spent his time with Starfire, who had taken over one of the beds in the crew quarters. The countdown timer he had programmed into the ship's systems had just passed the nine hour mark. 

Speedy had moved the ship from behind the Tamaranian sun and hid it behind the seventh planet, a gas giant known as Barrean. The massive gravity well of the gas giant would be suitable for the slingshot jump into Tamaran. The ship, with one engine damaged, listed horribly during flight due to the unequal thrust. He had to shut down the port engine to stabilize the ship during flight. This meant the ship lost speed, valuable speed that they would need against the Gordanians.

He was listening to Blackfire, who was sitting at Cyborg's abandoned booster console, explaining the strengths of the Gordanian blockade. She tried to recall everything that would be helpful for them. "Honestly, their weapons aren't the best, but they make up for it with numbers and shields. They have more ships surrounding Tamaran that I've ever seen in one place at a time, and nothing the Tamaranian military has been able to fire at them has made a scratch on the ships." She sighed sadly. "The only real weakness is that one ship serves as a control junction for all the other ships. Disable that ship, you knock out their entire fleet. That's the only way we've been able to defeat them in the past, but you have to find one ship in a thousand. It's going to take a stroke of luck for us to get through."

Speedy leaned against the back of his chair in thought before hearing a haughty voice from his side, the haughty voice which he knew and loved. His pink haired witch spoke up, her hands and eyes glowing pink. "Maybe we don't need luck, maybe they just need bad luck."

Blackfire, unfamiliar with Jinx, looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Jinx smiled and stood up, walking over to Speedy and pulling an arrow, seemingly at random, from his quiver. She checked it and held it out to him. "Net arrow?" Speedy nodded. Her hands glowed again and the pink hex engulfed the arrow, which promptly broke at the shaft before the netting discharged, covering Blackfire and knocking her back.

Blackfire smiled, extricating her from the netting. "Hey, that might work."

Speedy turned around in his chair. "Oh no, no way. First, there's no way Jinx could hit any ships from inside without destroying our ship."

Jinx shook her head. "We have magnetic boots, I could stand on the hull of the ship."

Speedy paled, searching for some reason. "Your hexes would damage your suit gloves."

"I cast a counter hex on my suit before we left on this mission. Just in case I had to do anything while I was in my suit."

"Fine, I don't want you to do it."

Jinx regarded him quietly, her eyes narrowed and glowing pink. "It's not your decision to make."

Aqualad spoke from the doorway to the command deck, effectively saving Speedy. "She has a point." He took his command chair and sighed. "Terra's scans of the Gordanian fleet show that we probably won't be able to disable their shields with our weapons. We're going to need her out there, and Blackfire, too."

Blackfire nodded. "I was planning on it."

* * *

The plan was settled long before the engine repairs were completed. It had taken Cyborg fifteen hours, leaving Starfire with six hours remaining. Now the titans had taken their places on the command deck, the only notable absence being Jinx's empty console. Having made it to the Tamaranian solar system, stellar cartography wasn't exactly a high priority, especially when she was the best offensive weapon the titans had to break the blockade. 

She was in the crew quarters, securing her suit and magnetic boots in preparation for her duties outside the ship. She had been icy to Speedy for the last few hours, still miffed at his comment. He had no right to make decisions for her, she knew the risks and it was her choice. She leaned back in her chair, her helmet on the table in front of her. Had she paid attention, she would have seen the reflection of a masked figure in her helmet's visor walk up behind her, but she only felt it when he placed his hands on her shoulders and started rubbing softly.

Jinx melted under the backrub. "This doesn't make things better for you."

Speedy shrugged. "I don't want it to. It may not be my decision, but that doesn't mean that I won't fight like mad to keep you safe. I don't have many nice things, so I don't want to lose the ones that I do." He leaned in and kissed the top of her head.

She sighed. "I can't stay angry at you. Not that I was." She stood up as he finished the impromptu massage and put her hair back in a ponytail. "I think it's about time we get started."

Speedy reached behind her to the table and grabbed her helmet. He leaned in and kissed her softly for a long moment before placing the helmet over her head. He could hear, through the helmet, her suit voice running through diagnostics. She looked up into his eyes and mouthed three words to him. "Keep me safe."


	8. Man Down

Hurray for reviews!

Hotshot – Yeah, family is family. You have to respect it.

Pyro – Well if you insist, who am I to argue? No other stories yet, but there are a few in the pipeline.

Pickles – Someone has to ask the tough questions in life.

April – As to how I do it, I don't know, I just think these things up and sit down and write them. As for more Rob/Star action…you have a little bit coming in the closing few chapters. But remember, Star is ill, she needs her rest.

Twisted – Thanks for the Opera reviews. Just to let you know, Speedy didn't mix up resent and resemble. Remember, he's a redhead. He would, in fact, resemble Jinx's remark. And I don't mind you skipping chapters. Any review is a good review, even if it's a bad review.

Samanthe – I put you and Hotshot (and would others if there were) together because I want to thank you guys for reviewing but I don't have any specific reply for either of your reviews. Today I do, though. I will try to avoid this in the future, please forgive me if I have offended you.

Ramiro – Jinx rocks. She's been one of my favorites from the get go. And you're going to love this chapter, most likely.

* * *

Does everyone remember their directions? Port, starboard, dorsal, and ventral? Good. That said, on with the show and I don't own the Titans.

* * *

Chapter Eight: Man Down 

Aqualad shifted uncomfortably in his space suit. He had insisted that everyone get into his or her gear in case the ship suffered hull damage and depressurized. He pushed the crew through the systems checks, constantly aware that the time was slipping away from them. They had less than five hours remaining now. Starfire was in the crew quarters getting progressively worse. Robin was near the breaking point, something that the Atlantian had never imagined he would see.

At that point, Speedy walked purposefully past him and sat at Jinx's console before moving to his own. He was the last to report in and his voice was steely and determined. "Navigation and stellar cartography are up, calculations for the slingshot jump around Barrean are confirmed. Helm is responding and tied into the navigational computer for the jump, manual control will be restored when we are clear of the Barreanian gravity well."

Aqualad nodded. "Hit it."

In the engine bay beneath and behind them, Cyborg watched the engines glow to life and increase the pitch of their hum as they accelerated. Jinx and Blackfire stood in the relatively cramped confines of the airlock, awaiting their cue. Jinx was testing the counter hex on her gloves by forcing them to glow bright pink with a particularly intense curse. The spell was holding just fine.

Titan One cleared Barrean and whipped across the face of the enormous planet. With a flash of the engines, it peeled off, headed directly towards Tamaran. Aqualad decided to waste no time. "Terra, begin scanning the Gordanian fleet, try to find that control ship. Beast Boy, prepare to fire on the ships as Jinx takes out their shielding. Disable them, don't destroy."

Beast Boy nodded. He opened a line to the plasma cannon turrets. "Mas, Menos, you guys hear that?"

Two voices replied in concert. "Si. Incapacítelos, no los soplan arriba."

All was quiet on the command deck for a few minutes, then a chime was heard from Bumblebee's console. "We're receiving a signal from the Gordanian blockade."

Aqualad nodded. "Trace it, that's as good a place to start looking for the command ship as any. Put it through."

The screen in front of them changed from the quickly moving starfield to a very ugly looking blue…well…something. Aqualad cringed. He was used to the strange looking creatures of the deep but this was, as Starfire would say, just plain freaky. It addressed them in a deep, angry voice. "This is admiral Melccch of the Gordanian fleet ship Ulc. This planet is under military siege, identify yourself or be fired upon."

Aqualad smiled as best he could and straightened up in his chair. "This is Aqualad, commander of Titan One, operating under the blessing of the Green Lantern Corps medical division. We are transporting a Tamaranian back home for lifesaving medical treatment. We have no interest in your trade dispute, we just require safe passage."

The Gordanian made the Gordanian equivalent of a laugh. "Heh, Centauri smuggler can forge one of those insignia on the hull of a ship. I am not impressed. Besides, one less troq to deal with. Turn around now and you will not be destroyed."

The insult caused everyone on the bridge to grip their consoles a little tighter, their glares piercing through the screen onto the Gordanian bridge. Aqualad flew from his chair, his voice barely containing his anger. "You will grant us safe passage and grant it immediately."

The Gordanian snarled and terminated the connection. Aqualad turned to Bumblebee. "Any luck tracing the signal?"

Bee shook her head. "I got it coming from the north polar region, but I couldn't find the ship. It's like it wasn't there."

Speedy looked back. "It might be hiding in the polar magnetic field. I'll aim for it and if there's a ship there, we'll start with that one first."

Terra spoke up, the nervousness in her voice plain as day. "If we can make it there. I'm reading a dozen ships breaking orbit and making an intercept course for our position."

Aqualad glared. "Showtime. Jinx, Blackfire, time to do your thing. Bumblebee, keep communications open on them at all times. Raven, shields up!"

* * *

It was very quiet in space, Jinx realized. She was standing on the leading edge of the hull of Titan One with Blackfire flying not twenty feet away. If she looked behind her, she could see the dorsal plasma cannon turret that was occupied by Mas. To her sides were the two forward fusion torpedo launchers. But she was looking ahead of her, at the twelve Gordanian ships that were approaching at high speed. Blackfire broke off, swinging wide to come around and flank the ships while Jinx stayed put, her gloved hands glowing pink. She dropped her gold foil visor and waited. "Come on, boys. Time to play." 

Speedy was almost directly below her, he had called up two different displays in addition to his helm control. One was from one of the exterior cameras, trained on Jinx. Second was a connection to her suit computer. The helm controls in front of him flashed back from red to blue. "Helm is under manual control. Shall we engage?"

Aqualad nodded. "Let's go."

Jinx watched as a stream of bright yellow pulses flashed from behind her. The plasma cannon fire struck the nearest Gordanian vessel, leaving it totally unscathed. It returned fire, narrowly missing the ventral hull of the ship as Speedy evaded the incoming fire. As it flew past, she could see it's shields rippling from the cannon fire. To her right and left, fusion torpedoes flew through space. They targeted in on a different ship and exploded, again leaving the ship unharmed. Jinx smiled and cast an arc shaped hex. It struck the Gordanian vessel amidships. "Let's see how tough you are now."

She followed the ship as Mas tracked it with the plasma cannon. He fired a short burst, hitting the engines and causing them to explode in a fireball of unrestrained energy. Jinx clapped her hands happily as the ship cartwheeled through space without main power.

She cast another, wider hex and hit another ship. This one aimed its forward cannon at her. It began to glow a dangerous red before it exploded in a purple starbolt. She heard Blackfire speaking over the communication grid. "Who's the troq now, clorbag?" She fired a long purple bolt into the Gordanian ship's engine, causing it to shut down. She flew off, headed after another ship. "You're so not worth my time."

The fight continued, the titans whittling away the Gordanian ships one by one, always disabling and never destroying any of the ships. Slowly, the pink and white orb of Tamaran began to grow closer and closer. The fighting grew more intense as Titan One battled through the fleet. Soon they were in the thick of it. At the helm, Speedy noticed a ship to port targeting them. He quickly flipped the ship, exposing the ventral side and protecting Jinx with the body of the ship. The ship shuddered with the impact of the enemy weapon and klaxons blared. Menos fired his plasma cannon into the enemy ship's engines, leaving it a drifting hulk of debris.

Jinx let out a sigh. "Thank you, darling."

Speedy smirked, jerking the helm to avoid two Gordanian ships trying to perform a cut and run. "Any time, dear."

Raven looked over to Aqualad. "As chivalrous as that was, it also knocked ventral shields down to fifty percent. We need to knock out that control ship and we need to do it fast."

Aqualad shuddered with the ship as it sustained another hit. "Speedy, distance to Tamaran?"

"Approximately three hundred thousand kilometers. A little closer than the moon is to the earth."

Their discussion was interrupted by an alert from Speedy's console. A computerized voice spoke from the speaker. "Jinx, suit integrity compromised, air supply sixty percent."

Speedy paled. Aqualad didn't miss a step. "Go, now."

Speedy nodded and ran. Aqualad rose from the command chair and took the helm, flawlessly piloting the ship through a triad of Gordanians. He spun the ship around, giving orders from the helm. "Beast Boy, fusion torpedoes, full spread. Fire!" He was rewarded with three glowing fireballs and flaming hulks spinning off into space.

* * *

Speedy raced into the airlock, closing his helmet and listening to his and Jinx's suit voices as he cycled through. "Speedy, suit seal one hundred percent, air supply one hundred percent. Jinx, suit integrity compromised, air supply twenty percent. Replace your oxygen canister immediately." 

The airlock door opened into the pitch blackness of space, interrupted only by bright pinpoints of stars and the glowing yellow blazes of plasma cannon fire. He stepped out onto the hull of the ship and began to move as fast as he could towards Jinx. He carried with him two items, a roll of duct tape and a spare oxygen canister. He trudged along, the grip of his magnetic boots making speed virtually impossible.

Blackfire listened to the drama unfold, and when she approached the ship she could see Jinx on the outer hull of the ship, a white gas venting from the back of her helmet. Speedy was approaching Jinx's position on the hull as rapidly as he could. She moved to fly down and help, but at that moment, a bright green blast of weapons fire passed over her, singing the top of her head. Blackfire growled and flew off towards the offending ship.

Speedy already had the duct tape ready and as soon as he was behind Jinx he began to place strips of duct tape over the damaged part of the helmet. The escaping oxygen slowed, but didn't stop. He couldn't replace the oxygen canister without the helmet being patched, otherwise the new tank would drain just as quickly as the last. Jinx had been frantically waving, trying to reach the leak, but recently had become disturbingly calm.

He worked faster as he heard her suit voice through his headset. "Jinx, oxygen supply depleted." He placed the last strip of tape over her helmet and ripped off the back plate of her backpack. He replaced her oxygen canister and spun her around, listening as the suit corrected itself. "Jinx, suit integrity compromised, air supply one hundred percent."

She was unconscious and looked even more pale than normal, the usual blush to her cheeks was absent. He pulled her magnetic boots from the hull of the ship and pushed her down onto her back. Inside the ship, Speedy's nervous voice came through the communications system. "Terra, what's her status?"

Terra pulled up Jinx's medical readout and cursed. "Speedy, she's in cardiac arrest."

Speedy planted his magnetic boots on the hull of the ship and placed his hands over Jinx's chest and pushed down hard. Two times, three times, four. His tears were starting to float in the confines of his helmet. "Come on, Jinx. Don't do this to me." He raised his fist high above her and slammed it down onto her chest. He was rewarded with a sharp gasp and a series of coughs as the tiny body beside him curled into the fetal position.

Speedy rose and grabbed her, hugging her tightly before carrying her in bridal fashion to the airlock door.


	9. Abandon Ship

Hurray for reviews!

Pyro – Woah, relax man. You're worthy, you're worthy.

MHL – I update fast because the story is complete. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to work on any new stories lately so there might be a lull after this one is finished.

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StarSoSweet, a-1991, Hotshot – Thank you for reviewing, all. I hope you guys like the rest of it.

Pickles – You'll see…

* * *

As usual, I don't own the Teen Titans. I wish I did, though…

* * *

Chapter Nine: Abandon Ship 

The airlock door opened onto pure chaos. Speedy handed Jinx off to Bumblebee as she passed into the crew quarters and moved quickly towards the command deck. A very relieved Aqualad slid from behind the helm and sat back in his chair. "Not a moment too soon."

Raven replied in her normal monotone. "Maybe too late. Shields are at thirty percent."

Aqualad let an Atlantian curse slip beneath his breath. "Terra, can you get me a visual of the north polar region of Tamaran?" The blonde nodded and soon the viewscreen ahead of them was filled with the mottled pink and white of the planet. The coloration was interrupted by a few dark spots, which were the Gordanian ships in position.

Aqualad squinted his eyes and counted. "Speedy, double check me here. Five ships, right?"

Speedy counted. "Yeah, five of them."

"Terra, overlay this view with the sensor data." There was a moment's pause and then a grid fell over the picture, with four red crosshairs corresponding to four of the Gordanian ships. Aqualad pointed to the fifth ship, the one without a crosshair. "That's it, that's the control ship."

Speedy was about to set course for the ship when he found himself hovering a few feet over his console with a horrible roaring sound in his ears. He landed just as quickly on the floor with a heavy thud. Klaxons began sounding from all the stations on the bridge. Raven had managed to hold herself in place using her powers and was the first to report. "Aft shields are down."

Terra pulled herself back up to her sensor panel. "And that shot took out our starboard engine."

Cyborg's voice filled the command deck. "She's right, the engine is completely totaled. Coolant flow is blocked, it's starting to overheat and will blow in a few minutes. We need to jettison it fast."

Aqualad had managed to stay in his chair at the cost of his left wrist, which was obviously broken and lay limply in his lap. The pain was evident in his eyes but not in his voice. "Understood, Cyborg. Blackfire, protect our aft. Shields are down back there."

The Tamaranian's normally smooth voice came back slightly rattled. "I'll do what I can, but I can't hold them off for long."

The bridge was quiet for a few moments while everyone contemplated their position and calculated their options. Finally, Speedy spoke up. "You guys go, abandon ship. Raven can form a good enough heat shield and fly you down to the surface. I'll pilot Titan One to the Gordanian control ship and disable it, then land." He looked to the ship's clock. "Starfire only has two hours left. We have to get her to the surface and to a hospital fast."

A weak, but still proud voice called from the door to the command deck. "Not so fast, tough guy." Jinx was leaning heavily against the bulkhead, still pale and shivering a little. "My helmet is totaled so I'm stuck on this ship. You're not doing this alone." She straightened up and smiled. "I don't want you to."

Aqualad considered the plan as Raven set his wrist and began to heal it as best she could. The Atlantian looked almost as pale as Jinx. "Okay, say we do abandon ship. What's to stop the Gordanians from targeting us once we leave the ship?"

Speedy smiled. "I'll jettison the starboard and port engines and release you guys from the cargo bay. The vacuum will pull out the cryogenic chamber in there. The two engines and the cryogenic chamber will give them some extra targets to consider. Plus, I'll maneuver us into the atmosphere, the ionization should help mask your escape. I'll still have two engines to get to the ship.

Aqualad nodded. "It's crazy, but it's the best thing we've got. Jinx and Speedy will stay with the ship." He pressed the communications button on his chair. "All hands, abandon ship. Report to the cargo hold immediately."

Speedy turned and punched some commands into the helm, the control flashed from blue to red. "Automatic pilot is engaged, it'll take us down into the atmosphere and hold us there."

* * *

Robin and Starfire, in the crew quarters, heard the call to abandon ship. Starfire, deathly pale and coughing bright red Tamaranian blood, looked confused. "Why does friend Aqualad wish to perform music at a time like this?" 

Robin hurried to put on his helmet. "No, Starfire. Not a band on ship, abandon ship. I think we're going to try to descend to Tamaran without the ship." A low roar could be heard through the ship. "It sounds like we're entering the atmosphere. We have to get to the cargo bay."

Starfire nodded and tried to get up. She failed miserably, nearly falling down. Robin caught her easily and lifted her up into his arms. She fit into his arms perfectly as they moved through the battered halls of the ship. Starfire tried to catch a glimpse of a passing clock. "Love Robin, what is the time?"

The real meaning of her question was clear and Robin didn't need to look at a clock. "A little under two hours. You're going to be just fine." He smiled and kissed her scalding hot forehead. "Will you be okay in space?"

Starfire nodded, happy to not be a problem for once. "Oh yes, I can still fly and travel through space and everything. I might be sick, but I am still Tamaranian. Even sick, I am strong."

Robin smiled, entering the cargo hold with his precious cargo in his arms. "You have no idea how right you are."

* * *

In the cargo hold of Titan One, the titans gathered with their suits on, pausing to activate them and run diagnostics. Raven was chanting in the center of the bay, glowing with her black energy and working on expanding her powers to create a large enough bubble for all ten of the titans to fit in. When she was ready, they all moved into position. 

Raven stood at the head of the group with Aqualad off to her side. Beast Boy and Terra stood together, hugging each other tight. Cyborg stood protectively behind Bumblebee and Robin held the rapidly deteriorating Starfire in his arms. Below them all, Mas y Menos waited calmly and quietly for quite possibly the first time in their lives.

Jinx and Speedy stood by the door. Jinx called out to the other titans. "First we'll shut off the gravity, then we'll blow the seal on the bay door. You guys have a safe trip now."

Behind her, Speedy looked across the bay to Aqualad. He looked from the Atlantian to the witch and then back again. In unspoken understanding, Aqualad nodded and braced himself. The archer gave Jinx a quick kiss before he put a helmet on her head. He whispered as he closed the visor. "I'm sorry."

Before she could even think to ask what he was sorry for, she heard the suit voice, his suit voice. "Speedy, suit seals one hundred percent, suit oxygen one hundred percent." She turned quickly, hearing the shuddering sound of the gravity turning off.

Speedy grabbed her by the suit front and reached up, taking his mask off. He looked into her helmet with bright green eyes. She could hear him through her headset. "I have to keep you safe." With that he pushed her away, sending her across the cargo bay and into Aqualad's arms. Raven drew up a shield around them with her signature chant as Speedy closed the door from inside the ship and locked it.

There was total silence in the bay except for Jinx's screams. Then the bay exploded as the rear cargo door jettisoned, sending the titans into the flaming plasma of the high Tamaranian atmosphere.

* * *

Speedy kicked off the cargo bay door and flew quickly through the gravity free ship. He reached the command deck and strapped himself into his chair, returning the helm to manual and slaving all systems into his console. Sensors read that the hull temperature was a cool seven thousand degrees Celsius. He quickly jettisoned the starboard and port engines, and fired the two remaining engines to bring him out of the Tamaranian atmosphere. 

To any Gordanian ship paying attention, the glowing red form of Titan One looked mildly frightening. But the armada was busy targeting the four objects in the ionization field of the upper atmosphere. One object blew up almost immediately and another two broke apart in midair. The fourth target was lost in the ionization as it sank down towards the planet surface.

Out of the ionizing interference, he opened communications. "Blackfire, Raven is carrying the crew down to the planet's surface. Go help her out. I'll be fine up here."

"Right, I'm going in." Speedy looked around for her and finally saw a purple flash streaking across his viewscreen towards the planet surface, headed down as he was headed up.

Ahead of him were the five Gordanian ships in polar orbit. He pulled up the old screen, the fifth ship hadn't moved. Right where it should be, hidden over the magnetic pole. He armed the plasma cannons and fusion torpedoes and fired as he approached. The shields on the Gordanian ship held against the onslaught.

Speedy sneered. "Stupid ship, stupid aliens, stupid stupid shields." He muttered on as he pulled up the engine control screen. It was a simple matter to shut down the coolant flow. He was pleased by the timeliness of the warning klaxons. "Just a minute more. Let's see how you can handle this."

Although the aft shields had been knocked out, the forward shields were still moderately intact. A good thing, considering Titan One was taking heat from all five ships as it approached the pole. Speedy did a good job of dodging most of the weapons fire, but with increasing frequency, a shot or two would land and cause the ship to shudder or sparks to fly from one console or another.

From the weapons system monitor, Speedy watched the distance to target shrink. He watched the engine monitor as the engine temperature increased steadily, nearing the red line. Finally, he reached the right distance. At one thousand kilometers the redhead spun the ship nose over teakettle and jettisoned the two remaining engines. He watched as they continued towards the Gordanian ships.

As the ship spun around again, he was pointed at the Gordanian control vessel, now very close. He fired all remaining fusion torpedoes, some striking the ship, others striking the jettisoned engines. The result was a stunning, silent fireball over Tamaran. The control ship was immediately disabled, quickly followed by the remainder of the fleet as their communication signal was lost.

The shockwave spread through space, broadsiding Titan One and pushing it down towards Tamaran, inexorably closer to the planet's atmosphere. The ship shook violently at the hit. Inside, the pilot was thrown forward, his head unceremoniously hitting his console and knocking him out.


	10. Crash Of The Titans

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Pickles – Of course I knew! Speedy had to show Jinx his eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul, after all.

Kiko – I didn't do any research, I just used what I knew off the top of my head, hence why there isn't much detail. That and I figured that people want more action and less technical mumbo.

MLH, April – Sorry for the delay, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it.

Pyro – Thank you for your effusive compliments, but really, I'm just a writer, no better and no worse than any other.

Star –You'll just have to read on and see what happens to everyone. They're not out of danger quite yet.

Inu – Thank you for thinking that my work is good enough to be dramatized, but I think my books are a little too long for a half hour episode. A movie, however…

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Forlorn – Thank you for reviewing. You must remember that I am placing the titans into situations where they have never gone in the series. Thus, there is no real precedent for how they would act. I'm not really taking them out of character, but I am attempting to divine how they would respond using their characters as best I can.

* * *

Thank you all for your kind reviews and I am dreadfully sorry for the extended weekend delay, I was away from my computer and unable to post. As always, I don't own the titans.

* * *

Chapter Ten: Crash Of The Titans 

Cyborg was getting nervous. They had been in freefall for minutes now and gravity was slowly tugging harder and harder at them. The only security came from a purple tinged streak of fire to their right, which was Blackfire. "How much farther do we have to go?"

Aqualad shrugged, the view outside of Raven's protective shield was like looking at a fireplace in reverse contrast. Flames licked the sphere they were in, flames of black outlined in white. "No telling. We have to slow down enough for the atmosphere to stop ionizing around us. Considering we don't have much mass, that could take a while." He turned to Raven. "How are you holding up?"

Her pure white cape rippled with the energy she was releasing. "Never better."

It was all of fifteen more minutes before the flames began to die down as they entered the stratosphere. The titans were still high above Tamaran, nearly twenty statute miles. The radio interference had ceased with the flames and Blackfire called out to Raven. "Follow me, we'll head for the capital. It's not far, maybe another half hour or so."

Raven grunted. "I think I can make it that long. At least we're falling so I don't have to hold anything up. It's just a matter of keeping us all together."

Robin nodded as Raven tracked their protective bubble along behind the purple streak of the elder Tamaranian princess. They were almost there, but he wasn't going to take any chances until Starfire was under a doctor's care. "Good, we'll have an hour to spare."

* * *

Speedy's alarm clock was going off. He didn't want to get up. And where was Jinx? Normally she was stuck to him like glue in the morning, wanting either breakfast or something more satisfying. 

Speedy shook himself awake. The klaxon of the master alarm was not his alarm clock and Titan One was entering the Tamaranian atmosphere with no engines and only five percent for forward shields. He activated the thrusters and tried to angle the ship to hit the atmosphere at a safe angle to bleed off the heat. The speedometer and altimeter on the helm began to decrease slowly while the external hull temperature began to increase rapidly.

His external view soon became clouded, first glowing red, then orange, then finally bright white as the heat and ionized gasses began to whip around the ship. The gravity was beginning to increase onboard, making him sluggish and pulling him hard into his chair. He cut the external view and pulled up a map of Tamaran. He was going to aim for the capital city, if nothing else Galfore would be there and could organize a search for the other titans.

His target set, Speedy tried to set the automatic pilot to land the ship. A white control screen and an ominous message in black greeted him: auto-pilot malfunction. He muttered to himself. "Well that would be too easy, wouldn't it?" He returned the helm to manual and was met with another ominous white message: helm control offline.

Speedy glared at the console and slammed his fists into it. The screen returned to the comforting blue indicator displays of the helm control. He smiled to himself, taunting the console before him. "That's what I thought."

* * *

Cast in black and white contrast, the capital city of the planet Tamaran was slowly coming into better focus as the descending Titans passed through the high cloud cover. Terra looked down at the comforting ground and concentrated. After a second, she opened her eyes, wide with shock. "I can't feel it. It's not there." 

Beast Boy turned to look at the blonde geomancer beside him. He had only seen that look in her eyes once before, and that was around Slade. "Terra, what's wrong? What can't you feel?"

"The earth, the ground, I can't feel it. I can't feel any of it. I don't have any powers here."

Aqualad turned his head towards the blonde. "You're not the only one. I can't feel anything from the Tamaranian oceans. Maybe our powers just work on earth." He shrugged. "Or maybe we just need to be closer."

Beast Boy took Terra into his arms and hugging her tightly. "Don't worry, I'm not much better off than you guys, either. I'm pretty much useless until we get back to earth. Last time I was here I could hardly change into anything at all."

She leaned against the green changing, slowly calming down in his embrace. "Does it scare you?"

"A little. But remember, we're the same people whether we have our powers or not."

A chorus of suit voices interrupted them, starting with the first person who had suited up and alerting each person in turn. "Bumblebee, suit oxygen low. Terra, suit oxygen low." Within a matter of seconds, all of the titans heard a similar warning. The only difference came from the smallest pair of suits. "Menos, el oxígeno del juicio es bajo. Reemplace el bote de oxígeno inmediatamente."

Aqualad looked down at the rapidly approaching surface. "Don't worry, a few more thousand feet and we'll be able to breathe. It'll be like being at altitude, the air will be thin but we'll be able to ditch the suits. Hopefully."

* * *

As fast as the ionized gasses had surrounded Titan One, Speedy was pleased to find that they dispersed. He had a clear view of the curvature of the planet and near the terminator was a sprawling urban area that his charts told him was his target. A chime from near the environmental station indicated that a transmission was coming through. With one hand on the stick, he opened communication. 

A window opened on the viewscreen showing a very large, very military looking Tamaranian. "Attention unknown ship, divert your course or be fired upon. You have ten seconds to comply."

Speedy sighed. "Tamaranian authorities, this is Speedy of the Titan One. We bear on board the princesses of the Tamaranian royal family. Please consult with your grand ruler quickly to verify and get me an approach vector so I don't sit this thing down where you don't want it."

There was a brief silence, and then the military man was pushed aside. A booming, familiar voice and an equally familiar, large man filled the screen. "Ahh, yes, you are one of Koriand'r's friends. How is she? And did you say something about Komand'r?"

Speedy adjusted his course to keep him pointed towards the rapidly approaching city. His speed was slowing down and with no engines, he had no way at all to speed up if he fell short. "Starfire isn't good, sir. We had a bit of an issue with the cryogenic system and she's out and about. That was about twenty hours ago, so she's only got about an hour left. They abandoned ship to head to the surface on their own so I could get rid of your Gordanian problem. Blackfire intercepted us and has probably caught the fire fever, too. She helped us out with the Gordanians, too. She's a good kid. How's that vector coming?"

"We were wondering why the Gordanians were breaking formation around the planet. Good work, Tamaran owes you a debt of gratitude. If what you say about Komand'r is true, there might be some sort of reprieve involved. I'll have to talk to her and Koriand'r first." He consulted a screen off to his side. "We're picking up two objects dropping directly over the city."

Speedy smiled. "Yes, that would probably be them. Now where's that vector?"

Galfore stepped aside and a thin Tamaranian with glasses and a lab coat stepped forward. The new Tamaranian spoke with a nasal voice. "You'll need to come to bearing kali'y karri'ya for entry into the city's airspace."

Speedy mulled over the fact that some things in the universe appeared to be constant. "You know, I think I'll just eyeball it."

* * *

The grand capital of the planet Tamaran was a very old city, graced with architecture from the many different stages of Tamaranian growth and reflecting the heritage and culture of the people perfectly. In the center of the city stood the heart of the royal government. The royal palace was a huge and graceful building crafted in pink Tamaranian marble. 

The palace faced out towards a huge natural area, two miles long and a mile wide, which was the heart and soul of the city. The part closest to the palace was leveled out and grassy and was often used during official government functions as a drill field for troop parades to display the Tamaranian military might. The rest of the area was used for a far less impressive but no less important. The area served as a park where the residents of the city could gather and rest during their easy days.

Today was such a day. News had just begun to trickle in that the Gordanian blockade had been mysteriously broken up in orbit and everyone seemed to be taking that as an excuse for a day off. Chalkor looked up from behind the counter of the small pudding shop where he worked. It was summer and he was working to put himself through medical school. This particular pudding shop happened to be at the southern end of the great park and next to the Zeriand'r Balch'yc, or Greyfire Hospital, the most prestigious hospital in all of Tamaran. In addition to earning money, Chalkor was also making valuable connections.

Normally when he looked up from behind his counter, he saw the bright pinks and whites of the Tamaranian sky over the glorious blues of the trees. Today, something was marring that view. He was not a military man by any stretch of the imagination, but it looked like some sort of ship, coming in very low. He wasn't the only one to notice it, others had turned to watch this strange sight coming in low over their city.

* * *

Raven continued to manage the titan's descent as they neared ground. They had removed their helmets a few minutes ago and the air was thin, but refreshing. Her best guess placed them at about ten thousand feet and falling steadily. Blackfire was tracking along beside them when she suddenly did a double take to her right. "Hey guys, isn't that your ship?" 

Jinx looked over to the Tamaranian with tearstains still fresh down her pale face. Her pink, catlike eyes scanned the terrain below through the black energy of the bubble. Sure enough, there below them was the familiar outline of Titan One. The ship was moving fast and approaching a very large area of forested land in the center of the city. She choked a sob as she fumbled around for her headset in her helmet. "Speedy? Speedy, answer me."

The radio crackled a bit, one minute turning into two. Fresh tears began to fall down the witch's face. Finally, the crackling turned into something more substantial. "Jinx, love, I'm a little busy. Can you give me just a second?"

* * *

Speedy was traveling at almost half the speed of sound over the city. He looked at the altimeter, he was about fifty meters off the ground and over a very large, blue looking forest. Ahead of him, he could see another mile and a half worth of forest and plain before the towers of the city picked up again. He smiled and looked down at the console, tapping one of the controls. "Well, let's see if we can get a nice parking spot close to the door." 

An unwelcome white screen greeted him, instead: landing gear malfunction. He glared at the console and dropped the ship lower, clipping the tops of the blue trees and breaking into the sweeping wide plain of the drill field. He felt the tail of the ship hit the ground and cause the nose of the ship to slam into the soft dirt. His speed meant that he wouldn't be stopping anytime soon, all he could do was hold on tight and pray he didn't hit a building on his way out.

* * *

Chalkor heard the strange ship hit, then a loud roaring and crunching sound. It didn't stop, nor was there an explosion. As he continued to watch the park, he could see scores of his countrymen taking flight, escaping from the path of the oncoming ship. For a moment, the young Tamaranian was unsure whether he should stay or flee. 

His hesitation cost him, for in the next moment, when he had decided to flee, the towering bulk of the ship passed from the protection of the blue forest and started to slowly, inexorably make it's way across the street. It had slowed to a crawl after passing through a mile of Tamaranian forest and came to a stop right in front of the pudding shop not twenty paces away.

Chalkor heard a muffled explosion and a crash. The door on the side of the ship had been blown off and a head capped with bright red hair was peering out the door onto the street. The ship's occupant hopped from the ship onto the street and staggered wildly about for a moment before walking slowly towards the shop.

The redhead walked up to the counter and leaned heavily against it. He considered the sign above the Tamaranian. Speedy naturally couldn't read Tamaranian but he knew from the stuff in the display case and his knowledge of Starfire's cuisine that this establishment served pudding. He cleared his throat and looked at the young Tamaranian.

"Yes, do you have any pudding of where the heck am I?"

* * *

Raven landed next to the smoldering hulk of Titan One and broke her concentration. The black bubble around the titans dropped and a totally exhausted Raven collapsed backwards into the waiting arms of Aqualad. Jinx ran into the pudding shop and her screams, a mix of joy and anger directed at her love, could be heard from one end of the block to the other. 

Cyborg simply dropped to his knees and sobbed. "My baby! He killed my baby! Aww, man!" Bumblebee dropped to her knees beside him and put his head on her shoulder. It would be a long day for her.

Blackfire floated down next to the titans. She looked flushed and tired. Her first steps back on her home planet were slow and staggering. Mas hopped on top of Menos and they rushed over to her. The topmost twin placed his hand on Blackfire's forehead and gasped. "Usted tiene una fiebre. Esto es muy malo."

The dark haired Tamaranian opened her mouth as if to say something but only ended up collapsing into the outstretched arms of Mas y Menos. They lowered her slowly to the ground and kneeled at either side of her, a look of worry on both of their faces.

Robin was looking around frantically. Blackfire was down and Starfire now had less than forty minutes to live. He called out to the crowd. "Is there a doctor here?" Twenty hands shot up. Robin's eyes grew wide. "Oh, well then."


	11. Tamaranian Knights

Hurray for reviews!

Hotshot, Wingblade, StarSoSweet – Thank you, I'm glad you like it so far.

April – Thank you! Sometimes I worry that I'm not descriptive enough, so it's good to hear that I'm worrying over nothing.

Pyro – Again, my friend, I'm just a writer. No better or worse than anyone here.

Samanthe – Everyone speaks English in space. It's a sci-fi convention.

Ramiro – I think the Speedy/Jinx pairing works well because they're both so damned cocky and they can play off each other. And I loved writing the dogfight, I'm glad you liked reading it.

Inuandrave – Try to keep writing? The story is already finished. I just get busy some days and can't post.

* * *

Here you go, everyone, the next to the last chapter. As always, I don't own the titans.

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Tamaranian Knights 

Robin lay in a comfortable reclining chair next to Starfire's bed in the recovery room at Greyfire Hospital. It had taken all of ten seconds for the doctors to diagnose her terminal bar and'r'y and another ten for them to figure out that she was Koriand'r, princess of Tamaran. Once that revelation had been made, it had been five minutes before she was safely on a hospital bed with an intravenous bag dripping the powerful antibiotic barglox into her system.

Nor had Blackfire gone unnoticed. The dark princess of Tamaran had been treated for first stage bar and'r'y and held for observation. She occupied the second bed in the recovery room. Granted, her presence had elicited a police presence in the hospital, but the command of Starfire had kept her sister from being arrested on the spot. At this moment, both girls were asleep. Robin was nearly asleep himself, the exhaustion from the past month finally catching up with him. Only Mas y Menos, who sat in chairs on opposite sides of Blackfire's bed holding her hands, remained awake.

The other titans had left their comrades in the hospital and went back out to help with the recovery of their ship. Titan One was a mess: engines destroyed, weapons depleted, shields down, and hull crushed on the bottom from its mile and a half long skid through a forest of what were identified as Tamaranian iron trees. The Tamaranian army had quickly dispatched a platoon to secure the scene and help move the hulk of the ship to a nearby military base where repairs would be made.

Night fell on the city, and a supremely grateful Galfore housed the titans in the royal palace. The massive and ornate palace had no problem doling out an exquisitely appointed guest room to each titan. They were in their own wing so they could come and go and visit each other as they pleased. When Aqualad had knocked on Raven's door and entered, he found her stretched out luxuriously on a fluffy, canopied bed surrounded by pillows and covered in sheets of soft alien silk. She looked up and smiled, and he found himself glowing black and being pulled closer as the door behind him closed and locked.

Beast Boy had been too tired to do anything other than fall asleep as soon as he got into his room, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door. Terra, looking pitifully small and frightened, still wasn't comfortable with her lack of powers on the strange, new world. She clung to the green changeling who yawned as wide as any cat and pulled her along to bed. She locked the door behind them.

It had taken Speedy a full hour to calm Jinx down. In the pudding shop she had been in such a mix of emotions that she lost control of her powers, painting the shop in a palette of different colors as bowls of pudding succumbed to her uncontrolled hexes. Now, she was the Jinx of old, refusing to believe that he had survived reentry and his crash landing completely unscathed. Glowing bright pink, she pushed him into her room and demanded to check him for injuries, locking the door behind them.

Cyborg had calmed down enough to take a survey of damage done to his baby and realized that it was extensive, but not irreparable. They would be on Tamaran for a while, though. He had remembered, before they left the military base, to extract from the ship his portable recharger but needed to build an electrical adapter from scratch to fit the Tamaranian outlets. With Bumblebee beside him in her smallest form, they completed the task in record time. He plugged himself in and shut down for the night, knowing full well that Bumblebee had probably locked the door and would just crawl over the power cable and fall asleep beside him.

* * *

Palace life was pleasant for the titans. Robin, thanking his lucky stars to have his lucky Star back, had effectively cancelled any and all forms of combat practice for their stay on Tamaran. Each day, Starfire would fly him out to some new and exciting place from her youth that the boy wonder simply had to see. He had only said to the other titans that they needed a vacation and they were going to take one and enjoy it. 

It was with this mandate that the Teen Titans dispersed into the city, each with their own specific destinations in mind. Beast Boy wanted to see the Royal Tamaranian Zoo. He marveled at the vastly different and exotic animals of this new world and tried to turn into them. Terra had come along with him and they walked through the menagerie, hand in hand. She had calmed down after a few days without her powers. Their only surprise was when a bunch of small school children came up and asked them exactly what they were.

Raven sought out a bookstore. Any bookstore would do so long as it had a small selection of Tamaranian folk poetry and songs. She ended up in a very impressive one, filled with hefty volumes of the history and culture of the planet. Aqualad, in an unceasing quest for coffee had tagged along. He figured that where there is a bookstore there is coffee, and he was not disappointed. He obtained a hot, refreshing beverage that tasted very nice. However, he had to actively purge from his brain the memory of what the beverage was made from.

Cyborg had been forcibly removed from the repair hangar by a phalanx of Tamaranian guards after his third straight day of repairs. Orders had come, in a circuitous route, from the royal family that he was to take some time to enjoy himself while he was on Tamaran. That circuitous route involved Bumblebee telling Starfire telling Galfore telling the guards. It was messy, but it worked.

Currently, he was playing the Tamaranian equivalent of football with some local youths on the drill field. His team was winning because the Tamaranians were so unused to running the ball on the ground. Bumblebee watched from the shade of a blue iron tree and smiled, planning out the rest of the day that would involve shopping at a very nice open air marketplace that Blackfire had recommended.

Speedy and Jinx had taken to simply walking through the city most days. Their travels had allowed them to find the museum district. They spent their time pouring over ancient Tamaranian artifacts, priceless works of art, and exquisite statuaries. The crown jewel of their travels was finding a very old Tamaranian church where they stood in awe of its magnificent spires. The old, wizened rector had been very happy to show them around.

Mas y Menos kept busy by teaching Blackfire some basic Spanish. She returned the favor by helping them with their English and introducing them to some Tamaranian. In the end, the three were speaking a very odd hybrid of languages that they alone seemed to understand. The east titans took this as it came and figured that they would probably need to start setting out an extra plate for dinner some nights.

* * *

The titans had initially refused; they were merely doing their job to protect their friend regardless of the cost and danger to life and limb. However, Galfore and Starfire and Blackfire had all been quite insistent. The actions of the Teen Titans in protecting both the Tamaranian royal family and the planet itself easily warranted the awarding of the Tamaranian Legion of Glorious Valor, making them knights of the royal Tamaranian empire. 

They stood, dressed in their freshly cleaned and tailored outfits, behind a set of tall, wooden doors that led to the throne room. Their cue was clear. From inside, they could hear a loud fanfare of brass instruments and the heavy doors slowly pulled open. The titans entered the ornately decorated throne room, which shone of gold and pink Tamaranian marble in the sunlight that poured in through the tall windows on either side.

Ahead of them, on the platform at the front of the room, seated in the tallest throne and wearing an impressive suit and the crown of grand ruler, was Galfore. To his right, dressed in a flowing purple gown and wearing a small tiara, was the princess Koriand'r, their Starfire. To the left of Galfore and dressed in black gown of similar design to her sister and wearing a similar tiara was the princess Komand'r. The dark princess Blackfire had been granted a reprieve by royal order for her actions in saving her sister and her home.

Robin led the procession of titans alone. His eyes never left the princess who had haunted his dreams for years now as he walked in time to the fanfare. Behind him, as leader of the east titans, Bumblebee walked with her hand in the crook of Cyborg's arm. The others followed suit in procession behind. Raven with Aqualad, Terra with Beast Boy, and Jinx with Speedy. At the end of the procession, Mas y Menos walked in quickstep to keep up with the other titans and their longer legs.

At the platform, the titans spread out. The three royals rose from their thrones and stepped down from the platform to the same level as the titans. Robin noticed that Starfire had attained the cool, distant look of royalty. Though this was not her chosen profession, she had all the training necessary to play the role since she was a child. For a split second her green eyes shifted to meet his masked eyes and a serene smile played across her face. Robin returned the smile, knowing that his Starfire was still safe inside.

From right and left, the princesses took the medals from velvet pillows proffered by nearby aides. Each medal was pure platinum and compact but exquisitely inscribed with the royal Tamaranian crest and some form of native winged creature. Each hung from a silken ribbon of luminous white. Starfire worked from the right side and Blackfire worked from the left, both hanging the medals upon their friends with an air of royal serenity.

When they were finished, they stepped back and Galfore stepped forward. From a sheath at his side he drew a small, formal dagger and proceeded down the line, pressing the flat of the blade against the medal and tapping each titan on the shoulder. With those simple gestures, the ceremony was complete and the titans became knight defenders of the Tamaran.

Behind them, they heard the sound of rustling fabric and when they turned, they found the entire assembly filling the hall had knelt. Starfire came to stand beside Robin, wrapping her arms around him. Blackfire went to the opposite end to stand behind Mas y Menos, placing a hand on each one of their heads. Galfore stepped to the top of the platform again and intoned in a deep voice. "For acts of profound bravery in defending the people of Tamaran from the Gordanian threat and for saving the life of the heiress to the throne, the government and people of Tamaran are proud to call you heroes and knights of the empire."

The people rose, their applause echoing through the marble halls of the palace as the titans stood in awe.


	12. The Voyage Home

Hurray for reviews!

Samanthe – Glad you're enjoying it, but sadly all good things must come to an end. This chapter will finish up this particular book.

MLH – Not over yet, this is the last chapter.

Hotshot – I do plan on continuing the series. I have two more books that I'm writing as we speak. I should have the first chapter of book three up on Monday or Tuesday, God willing and if the creeks don't rise.

April – I couldn't resist knighting them. I just had to do it.

Inuandrave – Nah, I'm not mad. It takes a lot to get me mad.

ValleyGurl – You know, my first story isn't so bad either. Hint hint…

StarSoSweet – What else will I write about? Oh, I have a few ideas…

* * *

Well, thank you all for sticking with me for this story. I'm glad you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Please, continue to post reviews if you enjoyed this story, I love the feedback. 

That said, I give you my standard disclaimer. I still don't own the titans.

* * *

Chapter Twelve: The Voyage Home 

It was exactly a month to the day before the newly refurbished Titan One sat cradled in a Tamaranian support frame on a launch pad. Repairs had been completed and the ship had been appointed a new designation by the Tamaranian military, Titan One was now classified as a destroyer. The crew had finished packing their gear and all that was left were the goodbyes.

Galfore and Blackfire saw them to their ship. To say that Blackfire had changed in the last month would be putting it mildly. She had been instrumental in the negotiation of the new treaty with the Gordanians and was beginning to take her restored royal duties seriously. She embraced her younger sister in a tight Tamaranian hug. "Sister, we have been through so much this last month. Will you visit more often?"

Starfire nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes, sister. I most certainly will. And it will be like old times." She had tears in her eyes.

Blackfire did, too. "Just like old times."

Nearby, Galfore had taken Robin aside and put his hand on his shoulder. "I cannot thank you enough for taking care of Koriand'r through all this." There was a pause, not uncomfortable, but no words seemed right.

Robin nodded and broke the silence. "Yes, she's worth it all and more."

Galfore nodded and shook hands with Robin, who was pleased that he didn't use a Tamaranian handshake and thus left him with some feeling still in his hand. They turned back around to see that Blackfire had said goodbye to everyone except Mas y Menos. She was presently wrapped up in a hug with both of them.

Slowly, the titans began to make their way back onto the ship. Starfire had taken the opportunity to fill the now empty cargo hold with enough Tamaranian foods for her to open and stock a restaurant. Her prize, though, was a half ton of zorkaberries. She had made absolutely sure that they were properly washed. All the same, Robin made sure that, in a specially labeled cooler, there was a full treatment of the antibiotic barglox. He wasn't about to let anything like this happen ever again.

The crew strapped into their respective positions on the command deck. Aqualad, however, stood behind the command chair. He turned to Robin and gestured to it. "Command is yours, Robin. For all intents and purposes, the mission is over."

Robin looked up from helping Starfire figure out the seat harness. He regarded the Atlantian with a smirk and then calmly strapped himself into the seat he had occupied on liftoff from earth. "What do you mean the mission is over? We're not home yet."

Aqualad smiled and took the command chair. He began to strap himself in as he felt the ship begin to lift into the upright position. "Bumblebee, raise the control tower. Let's go home."

* * *

"Titan One, you are cleared for landing on runway two one niner. Distance to runway is three miles, speed four hundred fifty miles per hour." 

Speedy checked his instruments. "Roger, control. Runway two one niner."

Aqualad watched from the command chair as the ship came in for landing at Jump City Naval Air Station. "Speedy, lower the landing gear. Set us down someplace close to the food court."

Speedy laughed. "I'll see if there's a space open." He pressed the requisite buttons and was met with a cheerful display screen with three green lights where the landing gear was situated. "Landing gear deployed. Cool, no crash landing this time."

Jinx looked up from her station. "Always a good thing."

The ship dropped closer and closer as it neared the runway, the altimeter on the helm slowly working its way back down to zero. At zero, the screech of tires was heard and the ship gave a small hop. "Main gear contact. Nose wheel in three feet, two, one." A second screeching sound was heard indicating that the ship was completely on the ground.

Titan One was safely back on earth after two uneventful days of space travel. Speedy deployed the drogue parachute and applied the brake and slowly the ship began to come to a halt on the long runway. The ship stopped at the far end of the runway and the helmsman leaned back in his chair. "We have wheels stop."

Aqualad smiled and unstrapped himself from his seat harness. "Nice landing, Speedy. Everyone, let's get ready for egress."

The titans locked their consoles and walked through the ship to the airlock door and opened it. A screaming mass of people and the bright flash of cameras and the steady glare of news cameras greeted them. Robin stepped back from the doorway and motioned Starfire forward. "It's you they want to see."

Starfire smiled her trademark alien smile and took Robin's hand before she floated out the door. The cheers of the crowd increased to a deafening high at the sight of her. The people of Jump City knew they had their heroes back.

Aqualad stood farthest away from the door. He leaned against the wall and looked around with his helmet in his hands. Beast Boy walked past him. "Are you coming?"

The commander smiled. "Yes, I'm coming. But the captain is always the last one off the ship."

Beast Boy shrugged and walked hand in hand with Terra out to face the crowd. Mas y Menos slipped by and stepped out the door. Speedy followed with Jinx, the former clapping Aqualad on the shoulder and smiling before stepping out the hatch. As Cyborg passed by with Bumblebee, Aqualad felt a gloved hand squeeze his own. Raven stood beside him, still in her space suit with her white cloak wrapping around her. She looked into his eyes with an innocent look on her face as she leaned gently into him. "And what about the captain's woman?"

Aqualad laughed. "She leaves on the captain's arm." He offered his arm to her and she took it before leaning in to give him a soft kiss.

They walked out of the hatch. The crowd roared.

* * *

It was midnight in the east tower. In the darkness a lone figured moved through the halls to the kitchen. It set the kettle on the stove and waited for it to come to a rolling boil. Two mugs were pulled from the cabinet and tea bags were placed in each, then water was added. Satisfied with the result, the dark figured moved back through the halls with the mugs in hand. 

Aqualad lay in his bed, rolling about uncomfortably. He was burning up but shivering with chills. He lay under every blanket he owned and still couldn't keep warm while the fever raged within him. He looked up as he heard the door to his room opening, a familiar figure in white coming to watch over him. He glared.

"I blame you for this."

Raven floated over and sat down close to him. "Hush, my love. It's been two months since I had the flu. How can it be my fault?"

Aqualad narrowed his eyes. "I never said it was your fault, I said I was going to blame you."

Raven laughed and handed him a mug. "Drink this, you'll feel better."

He perked up instantly. "Hallelujah! Coffee." He took a sip and swallowed miserably. "Tea."

She put her hand to his forehead. He was still burning up. "It's good for you."

Any response from the Atlantian was lost in a cough. He drank his tea slowly and soon grew tired. Raven took his empty mug and sat it on the nightstand before she helped him back down and tucked him in. He watched her as she rose and prepared for bed as well. "How did I get such a wonderful nurse, anyway?"

Raven smiled and slipped into her bedclothes and then into bed beside him. "Well, Starfire was busy with another patient so it came down to me. I hope you don't mind."

Aqualad rolled over and sniffled, looking mildly confused. "Wait a minute, another patient? You don't mean…?"

Raven nodded.

His eyes grew wide. "Oh, man. Poor guy."

* * *

Across the continent at the west tower, a loud and cheerful voice could be heard bouncing through the halls of the tower. "Love Robin? Oh my love Robin? I have prepared for you the pudding of wellness to help you with the bug of the flu. It's disagreeable burning is a natural curative for many common illnesses on Tamaran." 

A door opened and the voice that replied was pained and sickly. "Star, I don't know about all this." The beautiful alien princess spooned the dark yellow pudding into his mouth and his gagging obscured his continued objections. As the disagreeable burning overtook his mouth, Robin realized one thing.

He wasn't concentrating on how bad the flu felt anymore.

* * *

THE END of BETWEEN LIFE AND BURNING SPACE 

But don't worry, the Teen Titans will be back in...

ONCE AROUND THE SUN

The third book in the "The Life Heroic" series.


End file.
